Chris Cernick had himself a day.
Drafted to help fill out the roster for a depleted Coupeville High School boys C-Team basketball squad, the Wolf big man responded in a big way.
Throwing down 35 points across two games, Cernick helped the Wolves KO host Granite Falls, and come within a play or two of toppling Sultan as well.
With the rare doubleheader split, Coupeville, which only had seven players to call on Saturday, improves to 2-8 on the season.
“We are growing,” said CHS coach Patrick Upchurch of his very-young squad. “Off-season will be big for some of these guys. It is only a matter of time.”
How the day played out:
Sultan:
Coupeville started strong and finished strong, but a little bit of a letdown in the middle cost it in a narrow 43-37 loss.
The Wolves jumped out to a 13-10 lead after one quarter, with five players tossing in a bucket.
Cernick led the way, pumping in five of his team-high 14, but CHS couldn’t hold on to the early advantage.
Sultan used 12-6 and 12-5 runs in the next two frames to turn the tide of the game, before Coupeville closed with a 13-9 surge in the fourth quarter.
Josh Upchurch and Dominic Coffman each banked in six points in support of Cernick, while Ty Hamilton popped for five.
Brayden Coatney (4) and Coen Killian (2) also scored, while Alex Wasik was aces on defense.
Granite Falls:
Cernick and Coffman combined to toss in 35 points as the Wolf C-Team set a season scoring mark in a 52-44 win over the day’s host.
Coupeville actually trailed for half of the game, staying close but finding itself down 12-8 after one quarter and 20-18 at the half.
Things changed after the break, however, as the Wolves more than doubled their output in the third quarter, using a 19-12 run fueled by six points apiece from Coffman and Cernick to claim the lead.
From there, CHS closed out the win by letting their big guy in the middle go to town.
Cernick wrapped up a career-best 21-point performance by throwing down nine points in the fourth, while Wasik, Coffman, and Hamilton added a bucket apiece.
Coffman finished with 14 in the game, while Coatney (8), Wasik (5), and Hamilton (4) rounded out the torrid offensive explosion.
Leave a Reply