Cole White scored his 300th point Friday as Coupeville crunched league rival Orcas Island. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
The Avengers had a Hulk.
Coupeville has a Zane Oldenstadt.
Pretty much the same thing, just with less green skin and more facial hair, but the same ability to crush a rival’s body and soul.
Springing off the bench in the fourth quarter Friday, Brad Sherman’s secret weapon shone brightly in crunch time, punching home the biggest buckets of his hoops career to ice yet another Wolf win.
With Oldenstadt delivering back-to-back daggers to gut host Orcas Island, Coupeville’s varsity boys’ basketball squad kept rolling, claiming a 64-59 win.
The victory lifts the Wolves to 3-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 10-2 overall.
And now CHS heads home, with four straight games set to go down in front of Cow Town’s vocal fan base.
The first two of those contests — Tuesday against La Conner (2-0, 9-5) and Friday against Mount Vernon Christian (6-0, 6-9) — will play a huge factor in Coupeville’s bid to win a second conference crown in the last three seasons.
To get to that promised land, the Wolves need to flex like they did in the waning moments Friday night.
Or maybe put the hammer down for an entire 32 minutes, embrace the blowout, and keep from giving their coach an ulcer by jumping out to a big lead, giving most of it back, then backhanding fools.
With the temps outside flirting with single digits, Coupeville took a few minutes to find its shooting rhythm in the early going.
Whether their collective fingers were bent from potential frostbite, or the occasional Arctic wind gust curling its way into the gym and shooting up everyone’s shorts gave them pause, the Wolves fell behind 12-4 midway through the first quarter.
CHS needed a spark, and it got it in the form of some dynamic defensive stands, drawing a pair of offensive charges on madly careening Orcas shooters.
Logan Downes and Cole White bounced off the floor, sacrificing their butts and backs for iron man glory, and the game changed on a dime.
Back-to-back three balls, flying off the fingertips of Downes and Chase Anderson — the second trey set up by a Nick Guay rebound — turned the tide, with a pair of free throws capping an 8-0 run to close the frame.
The Orcas scoreboard operator tried to stop the Wolf surge the old-fashioned way, by awarding one of Coupeville’s three-balls to the hometown crew, but an eagle-eyed Brad Sherman wasn’t playing that game.
With his team’s honor restored, and the game knotted at 12-12 heading into the second, the hardcourt wizard unleashed full-court Hell on his opponents.
Hurlee Bronec absorbed another offensive charge to blunt the Orcas attack, while Chase Anderson flew around the court, making off with a loose ball and slapping home a breakaway layup to give the Wolves a lead they would never relinquish.
Five different Coupeville players scored in the second frame as the lead was pushed out to 32-26 at the half, and that was just the start.
Ryan Blouin dropped a three-ball to open the third, the ball barely making the net move as it splashed through, before Downes and Anderson added their own bombs from beyond the arc.
A runner from Downes closed the frame, pushing the advantage to 49-37, and then Coupeville got the margin all the way out to 14 midways through the fourth.
Perhaps getting caught thinking about possible weekend plans, the Wolves hit a small lull after that, allowing a scrappy, opportunistic Orcas squad to creep back to within 57-51.
Coupeville senior Zane Oldenstadt is a wild beast. Hide the women and children (and anyone who has to try and guard him on the hardwood). (CHS Yearbook staff photo)
Enter Oldenstadt, and bow to your new king.
Despite not having shot all night, despite not having played all night, the burly senior squeezed the basketball until it almost popped before crashing hard to the hoop for back-to-back buckets.
One came off of a loose ball — well, it was loose after Oldenstadt forcibly separated it from an Orcas player who felt the shockwave all the way down in his tender vittles — the other set up by a Hunter Bronec rebound and feed.
There was still a hair over 90 seconds to play after that, but the game was firmly in the win column for the Wolves the moment Oldenstadt’s second shot creased the net.
Coupeville closed things out with precision work at the free-throw line, including Cole White draining the 300th point of his varsity prep hoops career, and it was victory cigars all around.
Or hand warmers.
Downes tickled the twines for a game-high 31 points, and the senior sniper passed one more legend on the night, moving into 7th on the all-time Wolf basketball scoring list.
With 1,066 points and counting, he’s 4th among Coupeville boys.
Friday, Downes passed current CHS girls’ basketball coach Megan (Smith) Richter, who tallied 1,042 points during her standout career.
That leaves him chasing just Randy Keefe (1,088), Jeff Stone and Mike Bagby (1,137), Makana Stone (1,158), Novi Barron (1,270) and Brianne King (1,549).
Anderson rang up 12 points Friday to back up Downes, with Blouin (7), Oldenstadt (4), Hurlee Bronec (4), White (4), and Hunter Bronec (2) also scoring.
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