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Gotta fly high!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, John Fisken photos, Luke Merriman, Risen Johnson, Ryan Griggs on January 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Risen Johnson glides under the defense of Ricky Muzzy. (John Fisken photos)

Desmond Bell is coming through, whether you like it or not.

Ryan Griggs (42) hip is all, “You shall not pass!”

Luke Merriman gets fancy. “Can’t touch this, son!”

Joel Walstad turns the corner with authority.

DeAndre Mitchell prepares to launch an assault on the basket.

Possible sore hip and all, Griggs rolls hard for two of his 14 points.

You might think you can get in front of Ethan Spark and cut off his path to the hoop. But you can’t.

Two courts, one uniting fact.

Whether you were watching the Coupeville High School varsity or JV boys’ basketball teams Monday, there was action aplenty to see.

On the scene, camera clickin’ away, was John Fisken, who provides us with the photos above.

To see more, pop over to:

Varsity — http://www.olympicleague.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=7751&league=21&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=24&sport=0

JV — http://www.olympicleague.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=7755&league=21&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=24&sport=0

Use coupon code EB77514962 before Jan. 27 and get a 15% discount.

As usual, all purchases help fund college scholarships for CHS senior student/athletes.

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“Hard work does pay off!!”

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Hunter Smith, Luke Merriman, win streak on January 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Hunter Smith hit for 11 Monday as the Wolf JV boys avenged an earlier-season loss to South Whidbey. (John Fisken photo)

“I saw a different look in my player’s eyes tonight.”

Keeping their hot streak alive, the Coupeville High School JV boys’ basketball team drilled visiting South Whidbey 59-46 Monday, making coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh a happy guy.

“We have had a number of solid practices in a row,” he said. “These kids are starting to come together and play for one another. They play hard and it makes it easy to coach them.”

The victory, the fourth in the last five games for the young Wolves, lifted them to 4-6.

It also avenged a season-opening loss to the Falcons, when Coupeville fell by 40+ at Langley.

“They were hungry,” Van Velkinburgh said. “We have been talking about shooting good open shots.”

And they hit those shots from everywhere on the floor.

Making his season debut, freshman Luke Merriman rained down four second-half three-point bombs, including two on consecutive trips down the floor.

When Merriman wasn’t shooting the rock, fellow frosh Hunter Smith was launching his own treys, hitting on three.

Suddenly marksmen from down town, the Wolves were able to open up the paint and let their post players rumble, snatching boards and putting back buckets.

Everything positive on offense was keyed by his team’s work on the defensive side of the ball, Van Velkinburgh said.

“I was especially happy with the play on the defensive end of the floor,” he said. “We played inspired. We fought for every loose ball and rebound alike.

“It was nice to see every guy who stepped on the floor tonight in a Wolves uniform taking pride in their defense,” Van Velkinburgh added. “It won’t show up in any stat book, but, if you watched the game, you would notice that we just flat out worked them tonight.

“I can’t be more proud of guys for that. It is something as a program that we preach and these young kids are beginning to buy in and see that hard work does pay off.”

Merriman paced the attack with 12 points, while Smith hit for 11 and DeAndre Mitchell pumped home 10.

Gabe Wynn (8), Desmond Bell (6), Dante Mitchell (5), Ethan Spark (2), Joey Lippo (2), Hunter Downes (1) and Cameron Toomey-Stout (1) rounded out the scoring.

The Wolves hit the boards hard, with Dante Mitchell hauling in seven, DeAndre Mitchell snatching six and Bell and Downes pulling down five each.

Bell also snagged three steals, while Smith handed out three assists.

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Bad blood?

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Island rivalry, Parker Collins, Wiley Hesselgrave on January 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Wiley Hesselgrave, seen here in an earlier game, went for 14 hard-earned points Monday. (John Fisken photo)

There was something angry about this one.

It started as a rivalry game, was close for a nanosecond, then became a rout where the team up by 30+ in the fourth quarter put its starters back on the floor in what seemed an awful lot like an effort to punish the other team.

Whatever burr under the saddle was driving visiting South Whidbey and its coaching staff Monday, the Falcons exploited their superior skills from three-point land en route to a 81-48 drilling of Coupeville.

The non-conference loss dropped the Wolves to 3-8.

Down by 10 quickly, Coupeville fought back, using a 9-2 run to open the second quarter and cut the lead to 27-25.

Ryan Griggs banged home a pair of buckets to spark the run, with Wiley Hesselgrave and Aaron Curtin chipping in with a bucket apiece.

When Gabe Wynn swished both of his free throws to slice the margin to two, the Wolves seemed on the verge of snatching the lead away.

It wasn’t to be, however, as the Falcons, led by the two-headed terror of Parker Collins (27 on the night) and Chandler Sutton (23), immediately blew the game wide open.

A 14-1 tear did the damage and South Whidbey continued to build its lead from there.

Down by 13 at the break, Coupeville came out cold to open the second half, while Collins drilled back-to-back threes from the parking lot to kick off a 12-0 run that ended any comeback hopes.

Griggs and Hesselgrave, who each went for 14, continued to bang away, with Hesselgrave suffering a series of body blows every time he made a charge at the basket.

Successfully getting South Whidbey’s big man to foul out — the Falcon smashed Hesselgrave into the floor with a resounding thunk — the Wolf junior permitted a smile to grace his face for a moment.

The fourth quarter got downright ugly, as South Whidbey seemed to be making some kind of point by leaving its starters on the floor and doing as much as possible to run up the score.

While no one is likely to say much in public, it wasn’t too hard to eyeball things from the stands and detect a whiff of anger, for whatever reason, emanating from the Falcon sideline.

The win gave the South Whidbey boys’ squad a season sweep of Coupeville, though the Wolf faithful carried The Bucket through the stands during the game, just to remind the Falcons who won this year’s football game.

Aaron Trumbull banked home seven in support of Griggs and Hesselgrave, while Matt Shank (4), Joel Walstad (3), Curtin (2), Wynn (2) and CJ Smith (2) rounded out the scoring attack.

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Rumble in the rain!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, tagged basketball lifer, CHS Wolves, showdown, SWHS Falcons, Whidbey Island on January 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

No one gives side eye quite like Julia Myers. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Let the smack-talkin’ flow from your heart, brothers and sisters.

It may be non-conference. That doesn’t matter.

When the bus departs Langley and heads up the Island today, destination Cow Town and the gym that resides at the heart of it, it is rivalry night.

Four games, one night to claim Whidbey supremacy.

On one side, the red and black. On the other, the blue and white.

Coupeville vs. South Whidbey. One rumble for the fate of the known universe.

In the big gym, it’s boys’ varsity at 5:15, followed by the girls at 7.

Flip the order and jump across the hallway to the middle school gym, and you have the JV schedule.

The night features the team with the best record on the Island (the Wolf girls at 7-4) and the next three best (Wolf boys at 3-7, Falcon boys and girls at 3-8 each).

And yes, Oak Harbor sits up there next to the navy base. I’m aware of that.

I’m also aware its varsity teams are a combined 2-19, so not a whole lot of people are watching them right now. At least with their eyes open.

If you want basketball, if you want war, you’ll be in Coupeville and your butt will be in the bleachers.

Wolf Nation or Falcon faithful, bring the noise. This one’s personal.

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