Coover sheds his quiet-guy persona

TACOMA — The North Kitsap Vikings’ decisive 71-63 victory over Curtis High on Wednesday night left a single question on everybody’s minds. Where, exactly, did Jordan Coover come from? Coover played like a man on a mission, scoring 22 points to compliment Kyle Erickson’s 25. Coover’s been flying under the radar all season, but with his performance against Curtis, now everyone knows what he’s capable of.

“Jordan did a great job. he has the ability to do that — to step up and be that impact player. We’ve always had confidence in him,” said head coach Tony Chisholm. “He’s been able to step it up the past few games. It’s not new to us; he’s been able to do that all season.”

The Vikes led on the scoreboard throughout the game, and were up by 12 points. Curtis began an aggressive press, resulting in a four-point gain. After four Viking turnovers, Chisholm knew he had to take action. He called a time out and got the boys to settle down. Then the battle plan kicked in: get the ball to go-to guy freethrower Erickson, who has been known to draw a foul or two in his day. The plan worked like a champ, as Erickson took several trips to the line and sunk freethrows in an impressive fashion.

With one victory down, Chisholm’s Vikes are essentially one victory away from the state tournament. Though this is closer than they’ve been in four years, Chisholm hasn’t ordered the confetti for a ticker-tape parade quite yet.

The Vikings faced a must-win situation when they traveled to Foss last night. The results of that game were not available at press time. If the Vikings won Friday, they will play at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Puyallup. If they lost, they will play at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Foss High School.

The last time the Vikings played Foss was Jan. 9. The Vikes hosted the home 61-47 loss.

Chisholm recounted after the game that “They were a really good basketball team. I wasn’t surprised at all. We didn’t turn the ball over so that didn’t cause the loss. The loss came down to missed shots. We played well enough on defensive end to win. It’s unfortunate that to win the ball has to go through the rim.”

Because they’ve already met on the court, Chisholm is optimistic the game will go the Vikes’ way.

“Foss is beatable,” Chisholm said Thursday morning.

North Kitsap 17 19 23 12 71

Curtis 22 13 14 16 63

Notes:

North Kitsap — Kyle Erickson 25, Jordan Coover 22, Taylor Hoffer 12, Kyle McCown 6, Travis Ejde 4, Taylor Chisholm 2.

Curtis — Stan Langlow 14, Chad Rasmussen 13, Demetrius Smith 12, Maazin Butler 11, Darnell Williams 6, Dominique Williams 5, Blayne Clanton 2.

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