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Archive for the ‘Boys Basketball’ Category

Three-balls a-droppin’!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , , , on January 31, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Kramer O'Keefe (John Fisken photo)

   Kramer O’Keefe (right) rained down 71 three-balls during his days as a Wolf sniper. (John Fisken photo)

Brad Sherman (Sherry Roberts photo)

   Between 1991-2011, there was no better trey launcher in Coupeville than Brad Sherman (right), seen here with dad Don. (Sherry Roberts photo)

It is the ultimate weapon in high school basketball.

Capable of sending a crowd through the roof or deflating them just as quickly, the three-point shot is the dagger.

A dunk can set off a gym, yes, but there are so few, at least in this neck of the woods, that you can go an entire season without seeing more than a handful, at best.

Even then, most of them are just straight on, two-hands-on-the-ball jams, promptly followed by coaches lecturing the player to “just lay the dang ball up already and stop giving me angina, son!”

But the trey, the three-ball, is here to stay. It’s a part of the fabric of the game, and a crowd-pleaser at that.

As I’ve been going through the score-books from Randy King’s 20-year run as varsity coach at Coupeville High School (1991-2011), I’ve been writing about a variety of things.

Sunday, I decided, on a whim, to see who made the most treys during those two decades. To set the record straight.

Well, almost, as I have 17 of the 20 books, with 2001-2002, 2003-2004 and 2009-2010 AWOL. But it’s a pretty good start.

So, what did I learn?

The most astonishing piece of info was this: Gavin Keohane, who scored nearly 700 points during his run at CHS, the same man I watched win the three-point shooting contest at this year’s alumni game by a WIDE margin, never hit a trey during a high school varsity game.

Ever.

Which means he hit exactly one less than six-foot-seven Hunter Hammer, who capped his 759-point prep career by draining a three-ball in the fourth quarter of his final game.

So, now you have a great piece of trivia. You’re welcome.

Anyway.

Keeping in mind that we’re missing three seasons (which greatly impacts the numbers of accomplished gunners like Brad Sherman, Mike Bagby, Brian Fakkema and Tyler King), here’s 85% of what dropped through the nets during Randy King’s reign.

Let the boasting begin.

Single game high:

Brian Fakkema (6) vs. Mount Vernon Christian on 12-6-02
Brad Sherman (6) vs. Archbishop Thomas Murphy on 2-7-03

Single season high:

Brad Sherman (62) in 02-03
Rich Morris (50) in 96-97
Pete Petrov (50) in 95-96
Brian Fakkema (46) in 02-03
Ty Blouin (39) in 99-00
Brad Sherman (39) in 00-01
Mike Bagby (38) in 04-05
Blake Day (32) in 04-05
Alex Evans (31) in 07-08
Tyler King (31) in 10-11

Career three-balls:

Brad Sherman (101) **Sophomore and senior seasons — junior year is one of the missing books**
Pete Petrov (101)
Mike Bagby (80)
Ty Blouin (80)
Rich Morris (78)
Kramer O’Keefe (71)
Alex Evans (48)
Brian Fakkema (46)
Zepher Loesch (42)
Caesar Kortuem (41)
Blake Day (35)
James Smith (35)
Tyler King (34)
JJ Marti (33)
Troy Blouin (28)
Casey Clark (27)
Cody Peters (27)
Trevor Tucker (25)
Greg White (22)
Geoff Wacker (21)
Joe Donnellon (15)
Boom Phomvongkoth (15)
JD Wilcox (13)
Arik Garthwaite (12)
Matt Ortega (12)
Jason Bagby (11)
Jason Fisher (11)
Bryan Hamilton (11)
Casey Larson (11)
Ben Hancock (10)
Ian Smith (10)
Michael Vaughan (10)
Keith Dunnagan (9)
Erick Harada (8)
James Jorgenson (7)
Joe Kelley (6)
Dalton Engle (5)
Andrew Mouw (5)
Geoff Hageman (4)
Jason McDavid (4)
Virgil Roehl (4)
Nick Sellgren (4)
Ross Buckner (3)
Matt Frost (3)
Matt Helm (3)
Kit Manzanares (3)
James Meek (3)
Trevor Mueller (3)
Matt Douglas (2)
Ben Hayes (2)
Jerry Helm (2)
Travis Hooker (2)
Ryan McManigle (2)
Nevin Miranda (2)
Mitch Pelroy (2)
Matt Petrich (2)
Tony Prosser (2)
Joe Rojas (2)
Scott Stuurmans (2)
Nic Anthony (1)
Rob Blouin (1)
Chris Cox (1)
Scott Davidson (1)
Mike Duke (1)
Eddie Fasolo (1)
Hunter Hammer (1)
DJ Kim (1)
Erik King (1)
Gabe McMurray (1)
Brian Miller (1)
Tim Walstad (1)
Zeb Williams (1)

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Can’t be stopped!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 31, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Daniel Olson and Coupeville's 7th grade SWISH squad are 3-0 after a win Saturday. (John Fisken photo)

   Daniel Olson and Coupeville’s 7th grade SWISH squad are 3-0 after a win Saturday. (John Fisken photo)

On top of the world.

Or at least on top of the standings, which is where the Coupeville 7th grade boys’ SWISH squad finds itself after nipping the Mount Vernon Mayhem 28-25 Saturday afternoon.

The win lifted the Wolves to a crisp 3-0 and puts them in a first-place tie with Lakewood atop a 15-team league.

Coupeville, which actually has a mix of seventh and sixth graders (and one precocious fourth grader) on its roster, led from start to finish.

Running a high-speed offense that frazzled the bigger Mayhem, the Wolves closed the first quarter on a 10-2 run.

From there they stretched the gap out to 16-6 at the half and 24-14 after three.

With Coupeville running in its young players for much of the fourth quarter, Mt. Vernon made a run to get back in the game, but the Wolf starters returned to close things out at the free-throw line.

Jake Mitten sparked the attack with 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Matthew Kelley filled up the stat sheet with seven points, nine boards, five assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

Daniel Olson banged home six points in support, with Hawthorne Wolfe (2) and Sage Downes (1) rounding out the scorers.

Downes snatched six rebounds, while Connor Barton (4), Wolfe (3), Caleb Meyer (2) and Dakota Eck (1) helped out on the boards.

Wolfe and Barton had two steals apiece, with Downes doling out a pair of assists.

Coupeville returns to action next Saturday, Feb. 6, when it plays the Lake City Gold at Cascade Middle School.

Two other Wolf SWISH squads are also hard at work this season:

8th grade:

Next year’s freshmen, coached by Dakota Brown and Jake Prosser, are playing in a hyper-competitive AA division.

“It’s proving to be a difficult league,” Brown said. “The team has the talent and potential to compete, but needs to find that extra gear and desire to win.

“Rebounds, and defense are key to having success for us!”

4th/5th grade:

Under the guidance of former CHS star Greg White, the youngest squad is 2-2 and had a bye this weekend.

“The kids are really learning a lot but they are very new to competitive b-ball,” White said. “They have a lot of promise, so hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot of good things from them in the future.”

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Soaring to new heights!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 30, 2016| 1 Comment »

Wiley Hesselgrave

   Wiley Hesselgrave lines up what would turn out to be the game-winning free throw in a 64-60 playoff-berth-clinching victory. (John Fisken photos)

Hunter Smith

Steal-happy Hunter Smith (right), about to get all up in someone’s business.

Beauman

Beauman Davis puts in work down in the trenches.

Gabe Eck

Gabe Eck (with ball) gets mugged in broad daylight.

Jordan Ford

   When Jordan Ford gets angry, Wolf fans do like him, cause he brings the pain to opposing teams.

Cameron Toomey-Stout

Cameron Toomey-Stout, almost too quick to be caught on film.

Hunter Downes

   Hunter Downes finds out just how far his arms will stretch. Spoiler alert: pretty far.

bench celebration

   Wolves (l to r) JJ Johnson, Dante Mitchell, Desmond Bell, Ford and Jared Helmstadter celebrate a big play.

Playoff-bound.

Riding a thrilling come-from-behind win Friday night, the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad is headed to the postseason (after they finish the final three games on their regular season schedule next week).

How best to celebrate?

Marinate in the photos above, sent our way by wanderin’ photo man John Fisken.

To see more, and possible purchase some, thereby helping fund college scholarships for CHS student/athletes, pop over to:

Varsity — http://www.olympicleague.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=10539&league=21&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=24&sport=0

JV — http://www.olympicleague.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=10541&league=21&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=24&sport=0

P.S. — Use coupon code EB105394962 before Feb. 13 and you’ll get a crisp 15% discount off your purchase.

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Back of the book, baby!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Brad Sherman, still rumbling in his "later years." (John Fisken photo)

Brad Sherman, still rumbling in his “later years.” (John Fisken photo)

Gems from the back of the book

   Gems from the back of various score-books. On the left is the scrawled record of the 1999-2000 CHS boys JV team. At right, an intrasquad game from Feb., 2001.

Hidden gems everywhere.

Crawl through enough score-books, as I have been doing lately, and you’ll find all sorts of unexpected things.

As I work my way through 18 of the 20 books from Randy King’s tenure as head boys’ basketball coach at Coupeville High School (1991-2011), I found two more things which caught my fancy.

One was a hand-scrawled record of the JV season from 1999-2000, the other a record of a hotly-contested intrasquad game from early 2001.

In the grand scheme of things, neither one is earth-shattering, maybe.

But both are small slices of a bigger history, bits of thread that can now be woven back into the tapestry of Wolf Nation.

The JV record, recorded in at least five different pen colors (and pencil), tells the tale of a team that lost on opening day, then rolled like a freight train down a steep incline the rest of the way.

Those young Wolves won their final 12 games en route to an eye-popping 18-2 record (that year’s varsity squad went 12-10).

They beat always-strong La Conner twice (nice), thumped the richniks from Archbishop Thomas Muphy twice (even nicer) and ravaged Island arch-rival South Whidbey twice (nicest).

Only Sequim and Lynnwood could catch that pack of Wolves, who reportedly consisted of Geoff Hageman, Dustin Van Velkinburgh, Matt Helm, Joe Kelley, James Meek, Rob Fasolo, Sean Callahan, Chris Good, Casey Clark, Brad Sherman, Brian Roundy and Rob Blouin.

The other little gem is a five-on-five game between teammates that someone took the time to record for posterity.

Apparently they knew that 15 years later, I was going to deeply care.

In the showdown, which features a who’s-who of Wolf hoops stars, Sherman and Callahan went toe-to-toe.

Callahan won the individual battle 33-32, but Sherman’s squad, identified as The Wagon Burners, won the war, running away with an 83-77 victory.

From the score-book, the game looks like a scorcher.

Sherman’s boys surge out to a 24-18 lead after one, fall behind by three at the half, reclaim a basket lead through three and put the game away with another 24-18 surge in the final quarter.

Well, sort of…

When you look at the book 15 years later, Sherman’s team scored 22 in the fourth, not the 24 listed, so the final score should have been 81-77.

That’s actually one of two mistakes that day.

Whomever was recording things originally had Sherman scoring 26, then scratched it out and wrote in 30. Only thing is, he really had 32 when you count the baskets.

Anyway, no scandal here. Movin’ on.

Sherman’s cause was helped by Brian Fakkema, who hit five treys as part of his 20, while Joe Rojas banged for 14.

Roundy (8) and current CHS boys’ JV coach Van Velkingburgh (7) rounded out the Wagon Masters scoring.

On the other side, you can’t read the team name through the scrawled pencil (well, at least, I can’t), but I can see Erick Harada had 17 in support of Callahan.

Ty Blouin dropped in 12, Scott Harbour (whose last name is misspelled, and probably not for the last time) banked home 11 and the game’s mystery man had two.

It simply says LeCorre, and is the only one of the 10 names I didn’t recognize.

With a little research (a Facebook message to Van Velkinburgh) it turns out the interloper was a French foreign exchange student named Andrew who went on to play soccer in Oak Harbor.

So, now we know. One less mystery to keep me awake at night.

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Who wears short shorts? Your dad!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Memories, tagged , , , , , , on January 30, 2016| 1 Comment »

(Photo courtesy Moose Moran)

The ’72-’73 Wolves in their prime. (Photo courtesy Moose Moran)

(Photo courtesy Bill Jarrell)

Off to the state tourney for the ’75-76 Wolves. (Photo courtesy Bill Jarrell)

Flash forward to the early '90s. (Photo courtesy the Randy King Archives)

   Flash forward to the early ’90s and we’re in color … but still in short shorts. (Photo courtesy the Randy King Archives)

Old school basketball, when fundamentals out-ruled showy theatrics, are known for one thing above all else.

Short shorts.

Today, when the shorts sometimes are so long and flowing they could pass as dresses, it might be hard for some to remember there was a time when basketball was a game of exposed thighs.

Take a trip in the Wayback Machine with these three photos — two from the ’70s and one from the early ’90s — and marinate in the sartorial beauty of it all.

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