Coupeville Sports

Grady Rickner and Coupeville are flying high at 10-0. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

No stumble in their step.

Holding visiting Concrete without a shot for the first two-and-a-half minutes Thursday, the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball team made quick work of their overmatched foes.

Blitzing the Lions 72-24, the Wolves surge to 8-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League action, 10-0 overall.

Next up is a non-conference rumble at South Whidbey Saturday, then a rematch with their top league foe, Mount Vernon Christian, Jan. 27.

The Wolves, who are chasing their first league title since 2002, play their final five regular season games on the road, not returning home again until they host the district tournament Feb. 15-17.

Giving the local fans a glimpse at how scary it can be when everything is clicking, Coupeville decimated Concrete from the opening tip.

With all five starters attacking on defense, the Wolves roared out to a 14-0 lead before Concrete managed to get a shot up, much less make a bucket.

Xavier Murdy drilled a three-ball from the left corner to kick things off, then a madly scrambling full-court press produced turnover after turnover to be converted into lightning-quick buckets.

The Lions finally got the ball airborne at the 5:35 mark of the first quarter, hitting a layup.

Concrete also converted its second shot attempt, though by the time that pullup jumper tumbled through the net, it trailed 27-2.

The Wolves knocked down six three-balls in the opening frame, with Xavier Murdy netting half of those, and headed to the bench boasting a 38-6 advantage at the first break.

For comparison, Concrete has only topped 38 points in an entire GAME twice this season in 11 contests, so anyone hoping for a shocking comeback had to have known they were out of luck.

To the Lions credit, they scrambled and played hard, and actually slowed Coupeville’s offense down for a brief bit.

The Wolves only added a pair of breakaway buckets off of steals across the first five minutes of the second quarter, but then shook free of their brief stupor to push the halftime lead out to 52-15.

Third quarter three-balls from Caleb Meyer, Logan Downes, and then Meyer again — with a picture-perfect jumper off the fingertips of Logan Martin mixed in for good measure — moved the needle all the way out to 63-15.

Then the running clock became the only thing capable of slowing Coupeville’s roll.

Giving his bench some solid floor time, CHS coach Brad Sherman watched as Dominic Coffman carried the scoring load late, while Nick Guay popped an elegant jumper from the side for his first varsity points.

Brad Sherman draws up a play.

With two regulars sidelined by Covid protocols, the Wolves also bumped freshman Hunter Bronec up to the first team, and he made a strong varsity debut.

Xavier Murdy paced Coupeville’s attack, going off for all 22 of his points in the first half, with Meyer and Downes adding 13 and 12, respectively.

Coffman (6), Alex Murdy (5), Grady Rickner (5), Cole White (5), Guay (2), and Martin (2) also kept CHS scorekeeper June Mazdra and her well-sharpened pencil busy.