Logan Downes let fly from the corner. (Morgan White photos)
Harlan Mouw flies to the bucket.
Cole White surveys the scene.
Hunter Bronec shoots over Granite Falls imposing defense.
No one threw up, so that’s a start.
A game after a Langley player let fly in the Coupeville Middle School gym, the only heaving on display Thursday involved players chucking the basketball at the rim.
Facing off with rugged Granite Falls in the season finale, the Wolf boys won a game, came close in a second one, and pushed a very-strong Tiger squad hard in the showcase contest.
How the day played out:
Level 1:
The final score is a bit deceptive, with Coupeville falling 51-22 to finish the season with a 3-7 record.
The Wolves were within four points after Logan Downes popped a jumper to open the second half, but then the Tigers found a different level.
Ripping off a 17-1 run, Granite, otherwise known as the “Man Bun Boys” for the number of players they had who took the court with their hair piled atop their heads, was a very-solid team.
The Tigers had height, speed, threw down their layups with conviction, and played smart, aggressive ball.
Coupeville answered with the sizzlin’ scoring touch of Downes, who banged home every one of his team’s points on this night, and it worked, at least for a bit.
The CMS 8th grader opened the game by netting a lil’ jumper from the left side, off of a very-nice kick-out from Zane Oldenstadt, then quieted a spirited Tiger cheering section by dropping four straight free throws.
Each charity shot sank through the net with a quiet little whisper, and sat Granite’s boisterous players back down in their seats on the rock-hard CMS bleachers.
Tied 6-6 with under a minute to play in the opening quarter, Coupeville stayed close, but was stung twice by Granite at the very end of quarters.
The first time it was a three-ball from the top of the arc right before the first quarter buzzer, the second time an offensive rebound put back up and in to stake the Tigers to a 19-13 lead at the half.
Granite’s game-busting run in the third came thanks to a varied offensive attack.
Mixing three-balls with steals which fueled breakaway buckets, the Tigers eventually overpowered Coupeville.
The Wolves didn’t go down easily, however, and we’re not just talking about Downes and his 22 points.
Oldenstadt and William Davidson pounded away on the boards and scrapped for loose balls, while guards Cole White, Landon Roberts, Ryan Blouin, and Timothy Nitta harassed the Tiger ballhandlers all game.
Also seeing action for the Wolves were Hunter Bronec and Johnny Porter, who brought hustle to the floor for a team which played far better this season than its win/loss record might indicate.
Level 2:
Coupeville’s middle squad was its most-successful this season, and the finale offered one more rousing curtain call.
Riding the red-hot shooting of gunner Nick Guay and big buckets in the final moments from Blouin and Mikey Robinett, the Wolves closed on a 10-2 run to capture a 24-22 nail-biter.
With the win, the second squad finished 7-2-1.
No, middle school hoops teams don’t play overtime, and yes, a tie in basketball is stupid, but that’s a long time past. Back to today.
In a game with big swings, the Wolves found themselves trailing 20-14 midway through the fourth quarter.
Granite had all the momentum, having scored the final six points of the third quarter and the first four in the final frame.
Not to worry, as the guys with ice water in their veins all wore Coupeville jersies.
The first to strike was Blouin, who swished a three-ball from the top after Davidson ripped down a rebound and kicked the ball out to his waiting teammate.
The Tigers responded with a bucket off of a power move down low, stretching the margin back out to 22-17, but, whether they knew it or not, they were officially DOA at that moment.
Robinett knocked down a roller off the glass to start the surge to victory, then Guay, who finished with a game-high 17 points, stepped up to claim the mantle of being The Man.
Flicking the ball skywards, he sank his fourth three-ball of the night to tie the game at 22-22, then made off with a steal for a go-ahead breakaway bucket.
Clinging to a two-point lead, Coupeville operated through the game’s final minute in exactly the opposite way most middle school teams do with the lead.
It’s rarely seen at this level (or, quite often, in high school play), but the Wolves LISTENED to their coaches, held on to the ball instead of flinging off a shot, and wore the clock down, daring Granite to foul them.
The Tigers instead played for the steal, but never got it, setting off a celebration from the pro-Wolf crowd.
It was a sweetly-satisfying win for CMS, especially coming in a game in which they almost went scoreless for the entire first quarter.
Trailing 6-0 thanks to a pair of Granite three-balls, and numerous shots of their own which popped out at the last second, Coupeville was struggling a bit.
But then, in one fluid motion, the lanky Guay pulled in the ball, went skyward and netted his own three-ball, the orb dropping through the net at literally the exact moment the first quarter buzzer sounded.
That shot seemed to be the spark the Wolves needed, as they reclaimed the lead in the second quarter thanks to two more Guay treys and a Davidson put-back.
Up 11-8 at the half, CMS stretched it to 14-10 midway through the third, then hit the dry spell talked about earlier in the article.
Guay’s 17 was huge, but every bucket greatly mattered for the Wolves, who also got three points from Blouin, and two apiece from Davidson and Robinett.
Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim, Jack Porter, Hurlee Bronec, and Johnny Porter chipped in with hustle and general scrappiness.
Level 3:
Coupeville trailed by 13 late in the third quarter, rallied strongly, but fell 30-24, dropping its final record to 1-7.
The Wolves best stretch of play came over the final eight minutes of play, when they outscored the Tigers 14-7.
Back-to-back buckets to close the third, with Harlan Mouw slapping a rebound back home, and Justin Jansen going coast-to-coast off of a steal, started the rally.
From there, the Wolves used the inside/outside combo of Mouw and Nathan Ginnings to cut away at the lead, getting the margin all the way down to five with about two minutes to play.
Granite needed to make a play to seal the deal, and, to their credit, the Tigers stood tall.
A bucket off of an offensive rebound, pulled down in a crowd, stopped the bleeding and ended Coupeville’s final hope.
The young Wolves finished with a balanced scoring sheet, with six of nine players scratching their names into the scorebook.
Mouw paced CMS with nine points, while Ginnings (6), Chris Villarreal (4), Jansen (2), Carson Fields (2), and JP Edoukou (1) also scored.
Rounding out the active roster were Jesus Madrigal, Jordan Bradford, and Alex Clark, who all saw solid floor time in the finale.
Final (unofficial) season scoring stats:
Logan Downes – 193
Timothy Nitta – 76
Cole White – 55
Hunter Bronec – 40
Harlan Mouw – 39
Nathan Ginnings – 37
Mikey Robinett – 34
Nick Guay – 33
Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim – 30
Justin Jansen – 28
William Davidson – 27
Zane Oldenstadt – 25
JP Edoukou – 21
Ryan Blouin – 20
Hurlee Bronec – 20
Johnny Porter – 18
Jack Porter – 14
Carson Fields – 12
Chris Villarreal – 10
Landon Roberts – 6
Jordan Bradford – 2
Alex Clark – 2
