Coupeville Sports

Whether shooting three-balls or eating burgers, Ryan Blouin is all business. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Sammy Hagar couldn’t drive 55, but Brad Sherman can win 55.

The former Van Halen lead man had a problem with the speed limit, while the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball coach kept his squad humming along Wednesday night.

Taking control early in Seattle, and never relenting during a physical, chippy battle with The Bush School, the Wolves wrapped up a 42-35 victory.

The non-conference win, its second straight against a 1A school, lifts CHS to 2-0 on the season and hands Sherman his 55th career win.

Now, the prairie roundball sage gets to come home, for a moment at least, to lead his team into battle with Toledo Saturday.

The Riverhawks (1-0) will be playing back-to-back games on an Island-hopping adventure, visiting Friday Harbor a day before arriving in Cow Town for a 4:45 tip.

The Wolves stayed undefeated Wednesday by playing stellar defense, sharing the ball on offense, and not spending all night complaining to the refs like the fairly whiny Blazers.

Maybe they just make ’em tougher in Coupeville.

That was shown early, as Wolf big man William Davidson, who got banged up in warmups, had the coaches slap some tape on there, then told his mentors to go and sit down, cause “Big Sexy” needed to go to work.

Corralling a rebound while fending off three players — one for each arm, and his leg aimed at someone else’s fanny — the prairie legend went right back up for a bucket to tie the game at 2-2.

While Ryan Blouin put the Wolves ahead for good by draining a gorgeous three-ball shortly thereafter, Bush went all soft (and whiny) as soon as Davidson flexed.

Once up, Coupeville took it right at the Blazers, with Logan Downes ripping the ball away and hurtling downcourt for layups on back-to-back plays.

The Wolves were savages on defense, drawing three charging fouls in the first quarter alone and picking off enough passes to make Gary Payton proud.

2-0 and lookin’ for more.

Coupeville’s superior toughness continued to shine brightly in the second quarter, as Cole White got smacked in the face, potentially drawing blood while the three refs combined to call zero fouls on the play.

Shrugging if off, the lanky one left the court for a brief second, then came flying back into battle, a glint of danger in his eyes.

CHS pushed the lead out to 18-4, with Blouin netting a trio of three-balls in the first half, before Bush made its one comeback push.

The hosts missed a ton of shots from close range, skipped a bunch of free throws off the rim, but somehow got hot from behind the three-point line.

That helped Bush close the gap to 21-18 at the half, but there was no break in Coupeville’s swagger.

White drilled his own three-ball to open the third quarter, with Nick Guay sucking in the defense, then alertly kicking the ball out to his fellow senior for the open shot.

From there the Wolves kept the lead around 10 the rest of the game, with the Battlin’ Bronec Brothers (Hunter and Hurlee) crashing the boards and White winning a wild battle for control of the ball while sprawled on the floor.

Up 32-23 heading into the fourth, Coupeville got a game-icing three ball from Downes late, while White rampaged from one side of the court to the other, netting three buckets in the final minutes.

The Wolves put three players in double digits, with Downes (14), Blouin (11), and White (11) combining to score 36 of Coupeville’s 42 points.

Guay chipped in with three, Davidson had his highlight reel bucket, and Hunter Bronec made sweet music while dropping a free throw through the net.

For the second straight game, Downes moves up another rung on the CHS career scoring chart.

His 14 points gives him 823 and pushes him past ’70s legend Corey Cross (811) for 13th on a list which began in 1917.

White also hits a numerical sweet spot, reaching 222 and counting for his run on the hardwood.

Sherman put nine players on the floor in Seattle, with Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim, Hurlee Bronec, and Aiden O’Neill also earning minutes.

It was the varsity basketball debut for O’Neill, who has already earned two letters on the gridiron.