Caleb Meyer and Coupeville won their 12th straight game Thursday, matching the best start in program history. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Two milestones reached, several more to go.
With a 57-47 win at Mount Vernon Christian Thursday, the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball squad equals the best start in program history, while clinching at least a tie for its first league title in two decades.
The Wolves, now a pristine 9-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 12-0 overall, have matched the starts of the 1969-1970 and 1996-1997 teams.
With three regular season games left on the schedule, including NWL showdowns with Friday Harbor and La Conner, the CHS boys will add their first new plaque to the school’s Wall of Fame since current coach Brad Sherman was a player.
Coupeville can finish no worse than 9-2 in league play, while MVC, at 6-2 with three conference clashes left, can finish no better than 9-2.
If that happens, the schools will technically share the title, though the Wolves swept the season series against the Hurricanes, giving them an edge which can’t be denied.
One more Wolf win in league play, or one more MVC loss, however, and Coupeville sits alone atop the NWL.
The last time a Coupeville boys basketball squad claimed a league title was the 2001-2002 season, when Sherman was a junior sharpshooter rattling the rims for 275 points and Randy King was Wolf coach.
Chris Good led that team in scoring, followed by Sherman, Geoff Hageman, Sean Callahan, Casey Clark, James Meek, Brian Roundy, Dustin Vanvelkinburgh, Brian Fakkema, Rob Fasolo, and Joe Kelley.
20 years after playing on the last Wolf boys hoops team to win a league title, Brad Sherman has led this year’s team to the first level of the promised land. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
This year’s Wolf squad, which travels to Granite Falls Saturday for a non-conference rumble and a crack at the first 13-0 mark in 105 seasons, faced down one of its toughest tests Thursday night.
The game was a one-point affair with six minutes to play, but the Wolves refused to bend or crack.
Having frittered away a 14-point second quarter lead, Coupeville saw MVC tie the game up twice in the second half, but never trailed against the Hurricanes after Logan Downes slapped a rebound home to stake his squad to an early 8-7 lead.
Clinging to a 43-42 advantage with the clock headed under six to play, the Wolves stiffened on defense and swarmed to the ball.
Forcing bad passes, hitting the boards with intensity, and plucking the ball away from the Hurricane ballhandlers, CHS closed the game on a 14-5 run which drove a stake through the heart of every MVC fan in attendance.
We dine on your private school tears, and it is sweet. So sweet.
The Wolves did it from distance, with Downes and Xavier Murdy draining three-balls, with the former making the net jump off a pinpoint pass from Hawthorne Wolfe, and the latter hitting a step-back trey.
And Coupeville’s players did it at the free throw line, hitting six of eight freebies in the waning moments after getting hacked and molested on their way to the hoop.
Caleb Meyer put the cherries on top of the sundae, swishing four consecutive free throws to end things, while Grady Rickner and Downes also tickled the twines for a crucial point.
Toss in Wolfe rippling the nets for a foul shot early in the quarter — netting the 750th point of his prep career — and CHS dominated at the line.
Coupeville hit 12 of 18, while MVC was a modest 3-7.
Coupeville Middle School stars made the trek to Mount Vernon to support their high school counterparts. (Riley White photo)
The game tipped off with Xavier Murdy and Meyer in fine form, as the senior duo combined for 19 points as CHS built a 21-12 lead by the first break.
Meyer knocked down back-to-back treys, with one set up by a Wolfe steal, and things were headed in a positive direction.
Barely a minute into the second quarter, after X-Man converted off of an offensive rebound and Downes drilled the bottom out of the net on a three-ball, the romp was on at 26-12.
But then the romp was back off, at least for a bit.
Coupeville hit a dry spell, MVC went on a run, and then the Hurricanes got lucky to tighten things up considerably.
A 10-0 Hurricanes surge cut the lead, while a three-ball which beat the shot clock and halftime buzzer by about .00002 of a second pulled the host team all the way back to within 31-29.
The lid on the bucket refused to budge for the Wolves during much of the third quarter, but Coupeville’s ramped-up defense kept them in front.
A three-point play the hard way from Meyer cracked a 31-31 tie, while Downes put a rebound back up and in to push the lead to 39-35 heading into the final frame.
That set up a rough-and-tumble fourth quarter, with the game tied at 40-40, then CHS up 43-42 when it made its heroic stand.
By getting the final margin out to 10, the Wolves won by double digits for the 11th time in 12 games this season.
The only team to lose by single digits was 3A Oak Harbor in the season opener, when lil’ 2B Coupeville made a major statement (and harvested many a sweet, sweet tear) with a 70-64 win.
Sherman used seven players in the title clincher, with six scoring.
Xavier Murdy led the way with 23 points, while Meyer banked in 18 and Downes rattled the rims for 12.
Alex Murdy (2), Wolfe (1), and Rickner (1) rounded out the scoring, with Logan Martin a terror on the boards.
“Un-de-feated!!” (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
What’s ahead:
Saturday’s non-conference game pits CHS against a 2-8 Granite Falls team, then the Wolves close the regular season with road tilts against NWL foes Friday Harbor (Feb. 4) and La Conner (Feb. 10).
Those games are important, as the three 2B schools in the conference are fighting for two playoff berths — with those slots decided not by the team’s overall record, but their mark against each other.
The league’s four 1B schools — MVC, Darrington, Concrete, and Orcas Island — go their own way in the postseason.
Coupeville is 2-0 in the four-game 2B mini-rumble, having beaten La Conner and Friday Harbor the first time around, with La Conner at 1-1 and Friday Harbor at 0-2.
Districts are Feb. 15-17, with CHS hosting.
The second-ranked 2B team from the NWL plays Auburn Adventist in a loser-out game, with the winner advancing to play the #1 seed.
Both teams in the district championship game earn a trip to state, which would be the first for the Coupeville boys since 1988.
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