Coupeville Sports

Cole White hit a personal milestone Tuesday, while Coupeville cruised to another road win. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

They’re running the gauntlet, and not just surviving, but thriving.

The Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball squad has opened with four of five games on the road, and three of those against bigger schools.

And yet, a quarter of the way through the regular season, with their Northwest 2B/1B League opener set for this Friday, Brad Sherman’s squad is a shiny 4-1.

The latest thrill came Tuesday, when the Wolves got points from eight different players — two of whom hit career milestones — as they shredded host Granite Falls 63-52.

Coupeville led from first bucket to last basket against a 1A school which may move up to 2A in the next round of classification musical chairs and pushed that lead out to as much as 23 at one point.

All it took to deflate Granite Falls was one play.

Wolf senior Logan Downes, who passed hardwood immortals Denny Clark and Brad Sherman on the CHS career scoring chart Tuesday, got things started with a bang.

Slicing through a narrow gap in the defense, he went hard to the hoop, knocked down a driving layup while being hammered, then calmly sank the ensuing free throw for a three-point play the hard way.

Very next possession, sophomore Chase Anderson got his own three-point play, minus the whole “being hammered while shooting” part, as he lofted a trey from the parking lot.

Chase Anderson, ready to terrorize defenses everywhere.

Up 6-0 before the hometown fans could even begin to complain about the refs, the Wolves kept gnashing, tearing off chunks of points.

Anderson scored on a layup set up by a superb Downes pass, then the duo flipped the script, with an Anderson steal leading to his older teammate flying coast to coast for a bucket.

Toss in Cole White peppering the net (while not bleeding during a game for possibly the first time this season), and mom Morgan’s Facebook Live fans were busy doing the wave in the comfort of their own homes.

Up 18-9 heading into the second quarter, Sherman unleashed the Battling Bronec Brothers — rebound-hungry twins Hunter and Hurlee — and high-flying Nick Guay, giving the Tiger defense 99 more problems to deal with.

Coupeville pushed the lead out to 27-12 late in the half, then took a brief team-wide nap, allowing Granite to claw back to within 27-21 at the break.

Perhaps the Wolves pounded some caffeine during the halftime sit-down, or maybe Sherman chose his rally speech well.

Or maybe this squad of hardcourt assassins just likes to live dangerously at times.

Whatever the case may be, the Wolves dallied for a minute or two in the third quarter, then looked at each other and said, “Now we unleash Hell.”

Raining down shots from all angles, Coupeville closed the third frame on an 18-5 game-buster of a tear, with Anderson accounting for eight of those points.

The Bronec Bros?

Each of them bounded high to snare a crucial rebound, before promptly sticking the ball right back through the hoop, dropping a one-two haymaker of destruction which deflated whatever remained of Granite’s resistance.

Things threatened to get out of hand in the fourth, with Wolf big men William Davidson and Zane Oldenstadt moving with the grace of (muscular) ballerinas as they notched buckets, sending their fans into hysterics.

Up by 23, Sherman doled out minutes to everyone in the rotation, giving hard-working Timothy Nitta and Mikey Robinett their first on-court action of the season.

Five players firing as one.

Downes finished with a game-high 26, running his career total to 895 points.

He breaks a tie with Denny Clark (869), passes Brad Sherman (874) and is coming up fast on Pete Petrov (917) for 7th on a career scoring chart which stretches across 107 seasons.

Also hitting a personal milestone was White, who notched the 250th point of his high school career on a twisting layup set up by a steal.

Anderson, who’s just getting rolling on his own prep tale, tallied 13 points to back Downes, while White (8), Hunter Bronec (6), and Guay (4) also kept the scorekeeper busy.

Davidson, Oldenstadt, and Hurlee Bronec rounded out the attack with a bucket apiece, while Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim, Ryan Blouin, Robinett, and Nitta all saw floor time for the Wolves.

Tuesday’s win was the start of a busy week for Coupeville, which travels to Friday Harbor this Friday, then pops home for a rare visit Saturday, with South Whidbey coming to Cow Town.

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