Coupeville Sports

William Davidson (left), Alex Murdy and friends are on a hot streak. (Andrew Williams photo)

Where’s the butter, cause they’re on a roll.

Crunching an Eastern Washington rival for the second straight day, the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball squad end the 2022 portion of their season riding a hot streak.

Bashing Manson 64-42 in Leavenworth Wednesday, the Wolves nab their fifth victory in their last seven games and win the four-team Cascade Holiday Classic.

The host team claimed 3rd place, walloping Kittitas-Thorp 66-51 in Wednesday’s opener.

Basking in the glow of a tourney title. (Riley White photo)

Now 5-4 on the season, Coupeville is off for eight days, then kicks off Northwest 2B/1B League play.

The Wolves host their next three tilts, squaring off with Orcas Island (Jan. 6), Mount Vernon Christian (Jan. 10), and Darrington (Jan. 13).

While Brad Sherman’s squad will enjoy being back on The Rock, and off the ever-bouncing bus, Coupeville is a pristine 4-0 when playing away from Whidbey Island this season.

After holding off a scrappy Kittitas team in Tuesday’s tourney opener, the Wolves dropped the hammer on Manson.

The Trojans actually led 3-1 early, having drilled the first of 10 three-balls they would hit on the day.

After that, with pregame music from Nirvana still lingering in the air, it was all Wolves, almost all the time.

Cole White sliced down the baseline, jabbing inside for a layup to knot things at 3-3, and Coupeville was off on a 17-2 tear to end the first quarter.

Five different Wolves hit the bottom of the net in the frame, with Logan Downes flicking a pair of three-balls over the outstretched arms of Manson defenders to lead the way.

Coupeville’s defense spurred its offense, whether it was Alex Murdy cleaning the glass, White making off with steals, or Nick Guay sacrificing his body to draw a charge.

Once they had the ball in hand, the Wolves made smart passes, setting each other up for easy buckets and keeping the Trojans running all over the floor in a futile effort to slow things down.

Up 18-5 at the first break, CHS maintained its lead during a back-and-forth second quarter, doing the small things to key the big things.

“Loved the energy our guys played with today!” Brad Sherman said.

Dominic Coffman scrambled to put himself into position to draw yet another offensive charging foul on Manson, while Guay and White delivered note-perfect set-up passes, enabling Downes to bank home buckets.

Murdy slashed the defense to ribbons, rambling to the basket to slap home a layup and send the Wolves to halftime with a 32-19 lead.

Manson almost made a small move early in the third quarter, netting a pair of free throws to get back within 10, but then Coupeville put things on ice.

Getting points from Downes, Jonathan Valenzuela, Guay, and Murdy, the Wolves went on a game-busting 13-0 run and never looked back.

Up 53-28 heading into the fourth, Coupeville got the lead as high as 27 points before pulling its starters and giving quality floor time to the stars of the future.

One of those young guns, Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim, came up big in the paint, crashing through the defense to net his first-ever varsity bucket.

Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim stops ‘n pops. (Andrew Williams photo)

With the two points etched next to his name in the scorebook, he becomes the second member of his family to score at the varsity level for CHS.

Quinten officially joins older brother Jacobi in the hoops brotherhood and is the 412th Wolf boy I’ve been able to document scoring for a program which began in 1917.

Coupeville spread its offensive attack between seven players, with Downes banking in a game-high 24, while Guay (13) and Murdy (11) also reached double digits.

Valenzuela (6), White (4), Coffman (4), and Simpson-Pilgrim (2) scored, while Hurlee Bronec, Zane Oldenstadt, Chase Anderson, Hunter Bronec, Jermiah Copeland, and Ryan Blouin also saw floor time.

Wolf big man William Davidson, who started against Kittitas, was on a plane to Colorado Wednesday for a family visit, but the team honored his style of play by body-slamming fools while playing defense.

Here for work, here for fun. (Morgan White photo)

While the strong all-around team play and tourney win will rightfully draw much of the focus, several Wolves reached personal milestones in the win over Manson.

Pilgrim-Simpson became a made man, while Murdy and Downes continue to rise up the all-time CHS boys hoops scoring chart.

Alex Murdy is the third member of his family to crack the top 100, and now sits at #99 with 296 points.

Up ahead are Uncle Allen Black (305) and big bro Xavier Murdy (482).

Downes, who has cracked 20+ points in seven of nine games, is averaging 22.7 a night as a junior, and jumps from #63 to #58 all-time after his work against Manson.

Now with 428 points (204 this season), Angie and Ralph’s youngest passes Nick Sellgren (406), Casey Clark (407), Ben Biskovich (407), Mason Grove (414), and Caleb Powell (421) as he chases the chance to be just the 50th Wolf boy to reach 500.