Trey Stewart fires off a pass. (Julie Wheat photos)
There is hope.
In a world where the NBA has convinced every kid they should be jacking up three-balls every time they cross midcourt, the subtle art of making free throws and layups — you know, those dusty old-school things which often win and lose ball games — has taken a hit.
But they ain’t dead yet.
Yes, we’re gonna talk about everything that happened Monday as the Coupeville Middle School boys’ basketball squads closed their season with three wars against visiting South Whidbey.
But first, we’re taking a moment to praise Henry Tierney.
This dude is a 7th grader at CMS, turns out for basketball, makes the practice squad, keeps on coming back, day after day.
“He’s been working hard,” says Wolf coach RayLynn Ratcliff.
Monday afternoon, Tierney, Jack Gustafson, and Gabe Ketterling — the three practice squad players who hung tough start to finish — are rewarded with floor time. All make a positive impact.
But it’s Tierney who subtly blows my mind.
Gets fouled, goes to the line — a place where so many shots have clanked off the rim during the hundreds of high school and middle school games I have witnessed in person.
So, so many missed free throws…
But Tierney not only knocks down both his charity shots, his technique is dang near flawless — the kind of artwork you want to frame.
It’s like Mark Price (that’s why you have Wikipedia, look him up…) has been reincarnated on the prairie in the body of a Cow Town teen, and it gives the old-school hoops junkie in me hope again.
In the roar and crush of a 2025 middle school game, it’s Hoosiers in live action, and it … is … beautiful.
The rest of the day? Not too bad, either.
Level 1:
Stronger every day.
Coupeville’s top squad closed on a tear, winning four of its final five games to finish 4-4 on the season, punctuating things by whacking South Whidbey 46-29.
Leading from start to finish, the Wolves ran the Cougars off the floor to earn the season sweep.
OK, now, technically, South Whidbey did score the first bucket of the game, but a little under seven minutes later it was 19-2, so welcome to tsunami season and there’s no place to hide.
Six different Wolves poured in buckets in the opening frame, with Kamden Ratcliff and River Simpson combining for 11 points to light the fuse.
Whether CMS was knocking down runners or banging away down in the paint, everything was dropping for the host team, which looked like it might go for 100 in its final run.
It wasn’t to be, however, as the rim turned unfriendly during the second quarter, with Coupeville getting just a free throw from Trey Stewart and a coast-to-coast sprint for a bucket from Kamden Ratcliff.
The defense was still sharp, though, and the Wolves carried a 22-10 lead into the halftime break, before rediscovering their shooting touch in the second half.
CMS big man Diesel Eck delivered back-to-back thunderous rejections of South Whidbey shots to kick off the third quarter, and the Wolves greatly benefited from crisp passing.
Kamden Ratcliff spun a laser to Trey Stewart for a layup, while Simpson drove and dished to a suddenly open Gracen Joiner for another bucket, as Coupeville stretched the lead out to 35-17 heading into the fourth.
That lead got all the way up to 39-17, was momentarily cut down to 39-25, then pushed back out to 46-27 before South Whidbey converted a put-back at the buzzer to set the final score.
A look at the scorebook shows the kind of balance CMS coach Alex Evans loves to see, with Kamden Ratcliff (14), Simpson (11), and Trey Stewart (9) leading the way.
Joiner (6), Eck (3), Xander Beaman (2), and Jacob Lujan (1) also tallied points, with Darius Stewart, Colton Ashby, Aiden Wheat, and Braxten Ratcliff all seeing floor time.
With the core of the team heading off to high school ball next season, CMS coaches took a moment to praise the growth of the veterans.
“I’d love to give a shout out to all our 8th graders,” RayLynn Ratcliff said. “Us coaches have been with them their entire middle school career and to see them grow, push themselves, overcome challenges and frustrations, has been such a reward.
“I encourage them to continue to not be afraid to do the hard work, to always believe in themselves and always push towards all their goals and dreams they have, to not be afraid of failure if they’re giving 100% and to never stop loving the game.”
“You shall not pass!”
Level 2:
Say hello to the juggernauts.
Closing with a 36-33 win Monday, Coupeville survived a late South Whidbey rally to finish 7-1 on the season, winning its final six rumbles.
The finale for RayLynn Ratcliff’s unit was on its way to being a blowout, before the scrappy Cougars made things interesting down the stretch.
The Wolves jumped on their visitors from the opening tip, raining down the first seven points thanks to buckets from Braxten Ratcliff and Brady Sherman and a three-ball off the fingertips of Nico Strong.
Up 9-4 at the first break, Coupeville got a burst of points from Abel O’Neil in the second to carry a 20-12 advantage into halftime.
Raining down pain on his hoops foes like his mom and aunts used to do, the scrappy Wolf guard swished a runner, then circled outside and banged home a three-ball from Prairie Center’s parking lot to cap the half.
The Wolves continued to push the pace, with Sherman setting up Logan Flowers for a bucket right at the end of the third quarter to stake the prairie hotshots to a 28-14 lead.
Then things got interesting.
South Whidbey erupted for a 16-5 run to open the fourth quarter, scoring more in six minutes than it had in the previous 21 minutes, and the lead was sliced all the way down to 33-30.
Thankfully, the Wolves tamped down the angina a bit, hitting three of four free throws in the final thirty seconds, with Sherman rippling the net on both of his opportunities, to push things back to 36-30.
With the win no longer within reach, the Cougars still found a bit of a miracle at the very end, sinking a miracle three-ball a half-tick before the final buzzer to rile up their fans.
Braxten Ratcliff scorched the nets for 14 points to lead the charge, with O’Neil (7), Strong (5), Sherman (4), Gracen Joiner (4), and Logan Flowers (2) also scoring.
Defensive bulldog Brayden Grinstead, Luke Blas, Jack Bailey, Mario Martinez, Hayden Maynes, and Xander Flowers rounded out the Wolf roster.
Jack Bailey punches the pedal through the metal.
Level 3:
Only in middle school.
The Cascade League, in its infinite “what the heck is wrong with you?” wisdom, doesn’t allow overtime to be played in middle school basketball games except at level one.
Which means we all have to accept an 18-18 tie, when we know in our hearts of hearts that stalemates are acceptable only for soccer fans, who live for that type of thing.
So, while Wolf fans can be happy (a bit) that Jaylen Nitta’s crew rallied from five points down and held South Whidbey scoreless in the fourth to finish 2-4-1 on the campaign, they can also be (a bit) miffed that an extra frame wasn’t played.
I mean, come on. We’d already crushed our butts on the bleachers o’ death for three-hours-plus.
We can’t go on for like five more minutes and have a definitive ending, the way God and James Naismith intended??
Anyway.
The final game of the finale started as a bruising defensive rumble, like something out of the days when the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons of the ’80s used to kick Michael Jordan five times in the tender vittles on every play.
Trailing 4-2 at the first break, the Wolves got a spark in the second quarter. Or, more appropriately, a series of sparks.
There was Gabe Ketterling banking in a runner like he was shooting pool.
Luke Blas rolling through a wave of defenders to get a three-point play the hard way — AKA a bucket plus free throw after being slapped six or seven times during the trip through the paint.
Those magnificent free throws from Henry Tierney. You might have read about them earlier.
And, not to be forgotten, some serious work cleaning the glass by hard-working rebounding ace Burke Winger, plus Logan Flowers bringing the ball up court while pounding each dribble like the ball owes him money.
With all that sort of balancing the ref’s decision to simply not call traveling, ever, on a South Whidbey squad prone to taking more steps than James Harden, the Wolves hung tough down 14-9 at the half, then 18-13 with about a minute to go in the third.
From that point on, Coupeville clamped down on defense, holding the Cougars scoreless for the game’s final eight minutes.
A free throw from Flowers to cap the third quarter trimmed the lead to 18-14, before Blas, playing like his aunt, Sherry Bonacci, in her late ’80s prime, knocked down back-to-back buckets in the fourth to force the tie.
South Whidbey had multiple chances to win the game in a frantic final assault on the basket, as the clock crawled to 0:00, but Coupeville pulled down the game’s final rebound to prevent disaster.
Blas finished with a game-high nine points, while Flowers (5), Ketterling (2), and Tierney (2) also delivered gifts to the hoops gods, while Oliver Miller, Jack Gustafson, Liam Stoner, Logan Dees, Dom Durbin, Jack Bailey, Winger, Jon Driscoll, Gabe Reed, Vincent Alguire, and Alton Hansen all saw action.
Diesel Eck rumbles down low.
Final season scoring stats:
Diesel Eck – 97
Kamden Ratcliff – 82
Les Queen – 71
River Simpson – 70
Braxten Ratcliff – 66
Trey Stewart – 53
Luke Blas – 36
Gracen Joiner – 36
Logan Flowers – 35
Xander Flowers – 32
Brady Sherman – 28
Nico Strong – 27
Dreyke Mendiola – 25
Abel O’Neil – 25
Liam Stoner – 18
LJ Schultz – 11
Alton Hansen – 10
Henry Purdue – 10
Gabe Reed – 10
Hayden Maynes – 7
Jack Bailey – 6
Xander Beaman – 6
Logan Dees – 6
Brayden Grinstead – 5
Mica McCloskey – 4
Aiden Wheat – 4
Mario Martinez – 3
Jon Driscoll – 2
Gabe Ketterling – 2
Darius Stewart – 2
Henry Tierney – 2
Maverick Walling – 2
Colton Ashby – 1
Jacob Lujan – 1
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