“I’m happy I got to do it with the team I had,” he said. “I loved who I was around. Everything’s easier when you care for who you’re around all the time.”
Standing next to House was fellow senior Rich Rolf. The two have been together on the court for years, shared the joy of a state title last year and were there to support each other. Next year House will play at Florida State and Rolf is still deciding what Division I school he will attend.
“I’m glad I’ve had like-minded people around me,” Rolf said. “This coaching staff set a great example for me and my teammates to follow for the rest of our lives.”
Junior point guard Gabe Cupps, the winner of the state coaches’ Mr. Basketball award and a candidate for the media’s Mr. Basketball award and first-team all-state, walked out of the locker room next.
“The toughest part is knowing those seniors aren’t ever going to get a chance to put the jersey back on again,” he said, fighting back tears. “I feel like they deserved to go out with a win. I work with them every day. I feel like I just let them down.”
Love for team permeates the program Elks head coach Brook Cupps has built in 10 years since leaving his alma mater at Graham High School. The core values he teaches his team are to be tough, passionate, unified and thankful.
“They’ve just been selfless,” Brook Cupps said. “They’ve cared more about the program and the team than themselves. It’s not something that’s normal for kids to make such sacrifices and be so unselfish to care about everybody else and to buy into what a team is about.”
The Elks (29-1) stuck together in their 55-48 loss to Pickerington Central (26-2). They weren’t shooting well, which rarely happens, and trailed 30-20 in the third quarter. But over the last 4:54 of the quarter they went on a 14-6 run to enter the fourth down 36-34.
“I thought It just showed that we were able to come together even when it seemed like a lot of other teams would fold,” Gabe Cupps said. “It just says something about this group that we were able to rally back even though we weren’t shooting very well. We didn’t play our best game. But we all thought we were going to win.”
Pick Central responded and kept the lead in the fourth quarter. The Elks cut the Tigers’ lead to one twice, and House’s 3-pointer made the score 48-46 with 1:20 to play. But that was all the Elks had left. When it ended the tears flowed quickly, and the heads hung low.
“The hardest part is seeing them hurt,” Brook Cupps said. “Obviously, I’m not happy about losing. But the reality is we’re having this conversation win or lose. That’s our last game together regardless of the outcome.”
Credit: Name Test
Credit: Name Test
The finality hit the players harder than it hit the coach. Cupps remembers many nights as a player when his season ended in a loss. He remembers when the Graham team he coached lost in the state semifinals in 2008. He said about 20 of his former Graham players were in the arena Sunday.
“The thing that I try to keep in mind is that I know our relationship’s not over,” he said. “I have that perspective because I’ve been doing it longer. It feels more like an end to them than it does to me, and I understand that. We just need to be there for them and help them process it and understand it.”
There will be time for the Elks to reflect on what they accomplished in going 55-4 over two seasons, but Rolf and House knew exactly how they felt about their head coach.
“He’s the greatest coach I’ve ever been with,” Rolf said. “He’s amazing.”
House said, “He’s way more than a basketball coach.”
Five seniors – House, Rolf, Quinn Hafner, Ryan Keifer, Cam Smith – won’t be teammates to Gabe Cupps anymore. He was once the young point guard who was asked to lead. Now he will be the senior.
“Just keep leading,” Rolf said was his advice to his teammate. “Don’t let setbacks take you off your course. Just keep choppin’ like he always does.”
Brook Cupps tells his team to practice gratefulness. His son uses the word a lot when talking about his team. He learned it from his dad, who likes to talk more about his team’s character than their basketball.
“They’ve done a great job of raising the standard of Centerville basketball, not only within our program, but outside of our program,” Brook Cupps said. “I’m grateful to them, and there’s a lot of younger guys that are coming behind them that are going to be really grateful to them, too.”
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