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Posts Tagged ‘4th quarter rally’

Rally kings capture road thriller

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Davin Houston slices ‘n dices the defense. (Jackie Saia photo)

They saved the best for last.

Capping a long day of hoops far from home Saturday, the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball squad stormed from behind late to topple host Morton-White Pass 47-41.

The non-conference win gives the Wolves back-to-back victories for the first time this season and lifts them to 3-5 heading into an important week.

Brad Sherman’s squad has two Northwest 2B/1B League clashes on the schedule, hosting Friday Harbor Tuesday before traveling to La Conner Friday.

With those two teams a combined 0-19 on the season, the time is ripe for the Wolves to take care of business and get a true hot streak going.

Saturday’s game was a nice gut check for Coupeville, and it passed the test.

Missing three players, including #2 scorer Camden Glover, the Wolves spent a lot of time sitting as they waited for their game, the fourth of the day, to tip off.

Once on the floor, that showed a bit, as CHS fell behind 11-5 at the first break.

Second-quarter three-balls from Riley Lawless and Aiden O’Neill kept the Wolves close, within 20-13 at the half, before things began to change in the second half.

That was when senior Chase Anderson caught fire, throwing down 20 of his game-high 26 points to fuel the comeback.

Coupeville cut the deficit down to a single point at 30-29 heading into the fourth, then put the game away with a 18-11 surge across the final eight minutes.

Anderson dropped in 11 of his points in the fourth, including hitting six of seven free throws to ice the win.

While the Wolves didn’t set any records at the charity stripe, hitting just 50% of their shots at 12-24, they got there a whole lot more than MWP, which was just 4-6 on freebies.

CHS also won the three-ball war 5-3, with Anderson and Davin Houston joining Lawless and O’Neill in torching the net.

While Anderson’s 26 provided the bulk of the offense, Coupeville spread out its other 21 points between six players, with Lawless (5), Houston (5), O’Neill (4), Carson Grove (4), Malachi Somes (2), and Easton Green (1) scoring.

Liam Blas rounded out Sherman’s rotation, providing strong work on the defensive side of the ball.

Chase Anderson (20) and Hawthorne Wolfe compare their career scoring totals. (Julie Wheat photo)

With his 26 points, Anderson moves from #22 to #19 on the Wolf boys’ career scoring chart, which was launched back in 1917.

He has 735 points and counting, passing Tom Sahli (719), Dan Nieder (729), and Steve Whitney (730) Saturday, with Hunter Hammer (755), Barry Brown (769), Jack Elzinga (770), and Hawthorne Wolfe (800) next up.

Though, as I always like to point out, Sahli — the only Coupeville grad to play against NBA Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor in college — is still being shortchanged.

His 719 points reflect his junior and senior seasons at CHS, but his scoring totals from his sophomore season are still AWOL, with the missing scorebook from the 1951-1952 season being my personal holy grail.

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They’re killers at crunch time

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , , on January 17, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Cody Roberts helped key a huge comeback Friday, as Coupeville’s JV toppled South Whidbey. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Crunch time is their time.

The Coupeville High School JV boys basketball team is liberally sprinkled with guys who love the spotlight, who live to (metaphorically) gut rivals and leave them to bleed out on the floor.

So Friday night’s rumble against South Whidbey, capped with an electrifying come-from-behind victory, while thrilling, wasn’t especially surprising.

But satisfying? Oh, absolutely.

Charging back from a 14-point halftime deficit, the Wolves used a 27-point explosion in the fourth quarter to KO their hosts 70-63.

Coupeville’s third-straight win, it lifts the JV to 3-0 in North Sound Conference play, 7-3 overall.

The victory is big in the moment. But it’s also a clarion call for the future.

With all but two players on this year’s CHS varsity squad being seniors, the auditions for JV players hoping to move up next year is ongoing.

And, to a man, the younger Wolves are letting people know — they’re coming, and they’re coming for all the wins.

Friday’s tilt actually looked like it might be a South Whidbey romp in the early going, as the Falcons eased out to an 18-8 lead after one quarter of play.

Coupeville got closer during the second frame, but still headed to the locker room trailing 35-21 at the half.

Enter X-Man.

Sophomore sensation Xavier Murdy, having recovered from a preseason injury, is finally back on the floor and splitting time between the varsity and JV.

That limited him to just two quarters of action in Friday’s undercard, but he made every second on the floor count.

After warming up with a quick five points in the third, part of a 22-13 CHS surge, Murdy went off for 14 in the fourth frame, keying a 27-15 run across the game’s final eight minutes.

X-Man drained 9-10 free throws to supplement a variety of field goals, but he wasn’t the only Wolf to sting South Whidbey at crunch time.

Cody Roberts also came up big in the fourth, banking in six points, while Logan Martin and Grady Rickner popped for four and three in the quarter, respectively.

Dominating play in the second half to a 49-28 tune, Coupeville finished the night with 10 of 13 players scoring.

Xavier Murdy led the way with 19, all in the second half, while Martin hit for 12, Grady Rickner notched nine, and Roberts sank eight.

Rounding out the balanced attack were Daniel Olson (7), Sage Downes (7), Alex Murdy (4), Miles Davidson (2), Chris Cernick (2), and Andrew Aparicio (2), while Alex Jimenez, TJ Rickner, and Chris Ruck all saw floor time.

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On the prowl!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Hunter Smith (3), seen here in an earlier game, poured in 16 Tuesday, one of three Wolves to break double digits. (John Fisken photo)

   Hunter Smith (3), seen here in an earlier game, poured in 16 Tuesday, one of three Wolves to break double digits. (John Fisken photo)

Never turn your back on a Wolf.

Chimacum may be the defending 1A Olympic League boys’ basketball champs, but Coupeville is coming for that title.

There is no doubt about that.

Throwing down a 27-point fourth quarter Tuesday night, in which six different players scored, the Wolves rallied for a 72-65 road win that has sent reverberations through the league standings.

The third straight win for a suddenly-jelling CHS squad, it lifted Coupeville to 7-6 overall, 2-1 in league play.

A win Friday night at Port Townsend (5-8, 3-0) and the Wolves will be tied for first place with five games to play.

Chimacum (3-11, 1-2) would claim the league’s third and final playoff berth right now, while Klahowya (1-13, 0-3) would be on the outside looking in.

The Cowboys and Eagles also face off Friday.

Playing in the opening game of a doubleheader Tuesday, the Coupeville boys battled basket for basket with Chimacum for the first three quarters. But they couldn’t quite get over the hump.

Down 14-12 after one, they trailed 31-27 at the half and 49-44 after three.

Maybe.

If that’s true, Coupeville’s 27-16 performance in the fourth should have given them a 71-65 win, and that’s what the scoring totals in the book reflect.

But the Chimacum scoreboard operator, and both coaches, are hanging their hats on 72-65, so we’ll just have to accept a point got lost somewhere.

Either way, the Wolves closed like a team with its eyes locked firmly on the prize.

Silky-smooth senior guard Risen Johnson poured in eight of his team-high 18 in the final quarter, and Coupeville, a streaky team when it comes to hitting free throws, was a sizzling 8 of 11 at crunch time.

Jordan Ford came up big as well, with six in the fourth, while Hunter Smith chipped in with five and Wiley Hesselgrave netted all four of his points at the end.

Coupeville continues to be a very well-balanced squad, with three players in a virtual dead-heat for the team scoring lead.

Hesselgrave, at 156 points on the season, is narrowly ahead of Johnson and Ford, who are tied with 151.

Smith, who missed a chunk of the season with an injury, continues to heat up as he gets his legs back under himself.

He hit for 16 on the night, coming on the heels of a 19-point performance against Stevenson Friday.

Ford (14), DeAndre Mitchell (7), Gabe Wynn (4), Dante Mitchell (4), Hesselgrave (4), JJ Johnson (3) and Desmond Bell (1) rounded out the scorers.

The missing point? We’ll never know, but hey, when you win, who cares?

JV falls short:

Missing three players, including two starters, the Wolf young guns hung with Chimacum for most of the first half, but went cold in the second half, falling 68-35.

The loss dropped the JV to 2-9 overall, 0-3 in league play.

The Wolves got all of their scoring from three players, with Brian Shank leading the way with 17.

Ty Eck added 13, including three treys, while Ariah Bepler netted five.

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“We fought till the end!!”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Sarah Wright had team-highs in points (8) and rebounds (11) Tuesday night. (John Fisken photo)

   Sarah Wright had team-highs in points (8) and rebounds (11) Tuesday night. (John Fisken photo)

Some nights, you can’t win no matter what.

Ravaged by illness (Lindsey Laxton, Brisa Herrera and spark-plug Lauren Rose were absent), the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad still scored more from the field than host Chimacum did Tuesday night.

Unfortunately, the Cowboys were dead-eyes at the free throw line, and that was just enough to spark a fourth quarter rally to carry them to a 29-23 win.

The loss dropped the Wolf young guns to 4-7 overall, 2-1 in conference play.

It was the first time the Coupeville JV lost a game to a 1A Olympic League rival.

After going 9-0 in the league’s debut season in 2014-2015, the Wolves had stretched their win streak to 11 going into Tuesday.

They didn’t go down easy, though.

Led by strong inside play from Sarah Wright (eight points and 11 rebounds) and Skyler Lawrence (six points, six rebounds), Coupeville led by a point coming out of the third quarter.

Up 18-17 with eight minutes to play, the Wolves were stung by foul trouble.

With several key players locked to the bench, Coupeville finally faltered, allowing Chimacum to close on a 12-5 run.

“In the fourth quarter we put up a lot of shots that just didn’t fall,” said Wolf coach Amy King. “We fought till the end though.”

Brittany Powers nailed a “gorgeous three” in the final moments to keep Coupeville close and “did a nice job stealing or getting a hand on the ball” all night.

Chimacum went with a press most of the game, but King was happy with how her team broke it.

Once they got their plays set up, the Wolves let the power twins hold the spotlight.

“Skyler and Sarah really impressed from the start with their shots, intense rebounds and just their sheer strength,” King said.

Kyla Briscoe, Allison Wenzel and Nicole Lester each dropped in a bucket to back Wright (8), Lawrence (6) and Powers (3) in the scoring column, while Ema Smith ripped down seven rebounds.

Briscoe pilfered four steals, Maddy Hilkey snagged two boards and Ashlie Shank collected a rebound and a block to round out the team-wide effort.

Coupeville faces Chimacum twice more this season, and King is ready to attack with a full squad at her disposal.

“We meet them again next week and the girls are already looking forward to that,” she said. “We have some practice to do though, and if we play like I know we can, the outcome will be different.”

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