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Posts Tagged ‘Bad Boys’

Madness, mayhem … and a little grace!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , , on March 29, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   A rough and tumble season finale at Forks included CMS spark-plug guard Kiara Contreras suffering an ankle injury. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

As season finales go, this one busted out all the fireworks.

After traveling all day Thursday, and then some, to get to Forks, the Coupeville Middle School basketball squads walked head-on into a wild afternoon on the court.

By the time the Wolves exited and headed back to the bus for their final trip home this season, they had two wins in as many games, though one came in an extremely odd manner.

The Wolf 7th graders romped to a 37-24 win, while the CMS 8th graders officially were credited with a forfeit win after the Forks coach pulled his players and took his ball home while trailing by five with 14 ticks left on the clock.

Seriously.

But first, the game that finished.

7th grade:

Carolyn Lhamon has steadily grown as a force in the paint for the Wolves, and she capped her first middle school season by throwing down a career-high 24 points.

While Lhamon by herself would have been enough to match Forks, she wasn’t alone.

Not by a long shot.

Maddie Georges tossed in seven in support, Nezi Keiper and Gwen Gustafson each added a bucket and Alita Blouin knocked down a pair of free throws to round out the attack.

With the win, the CMS 7th graders finished the season at 8-2 for first-year head coach Alex Evans.

The Wolves fell only to Sequim, a large middle school which funnels players to a 2A high school, and both of those games came down to the wire. One was decided late in the fourth, the other in overtime.

8th grade:

Where to begin?

The game was rough-and-tumble, to be charitable, with Coupeville shooting 35 free throws and losing spark-plug guard Kiara Contreras to a leg injury after she was sent intentionally flying by a Forks rival.

Up by one with 50 seconds to go, the home-town Spartans melted down mentally, throwing away the game and their cool.

Wolf scoring ace Anya Leavell struck twice, stealing a ball and turning it into a go-ahead layup, then pilfering yet another pass only to be tackled to the floor.

Unable to continue, she had to be replaced at the free throw line, with Coupeville coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh calling on Abby Mulholland to do the honors.

“Enter the momentum-swinging hero! After playing less than a minute, Abby steps to the free throw line and sinks them both,” said a proud coach.

After that, things went all to heck and beyond, with a steal on an inbound pass, a turnover, a missed Forks shot, a scramble for a loose ball and a Forks coach coming unglued.

Whistled for a technical, he continued to rant while Izzy Wells iced the game with a pair of charity shots.

And then the Forks coach took his ball and went home, refusing to play out the final 13.8 seconds of the season, forfeiting the game and any chance to close with class.

In the midst of a game where a Forks player cursed right at a ref’s face and Contreras was injured on a play that seemed to spring out of a time machine from the era when the Detroit Pistons “Bad Boys” used to throttle Michael Jordan, there was a saving grace.

It came in the way Coupeville’s players handled a potentially explosive situation on a foreign floor.

“There were a lot of times where we could have given into the fight but we didn’t,” Van Velkinburgh said. “We stayed the course, stayed together and got large contributions down the stretch to pull a wrestling match out to be a basketball game win.

“We end our season and I couldn’t be more proud of this group of young ladies.”

His squad finished 6-4, with their losses coming to Stevens and Sequim, two schools several times larger than Coupeville.

The victories built his team’s confidence, and the losses taught them what they need to do to improve.

As they prepare to move up to high school ball, Van Velkinburgh, who has guided these players through several years of SWISH basketball prior to this season, has seen the Wolves grow, develop and bond as a team, on and off the floor.

“I’m very excited for their future,” he said. “My hope is they continue to work hard and that they stay together.

“Amazing group of young ladies that I can truly say I have been blessed to share the court with.”

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One for all & all for one!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , , , on January 30, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Now, yes, this photo of Kyla Briscoe is from last year, but it perfectly captures the crowd's reaction (John Fisken photo)

   Yes, this photo of Kyla Briscoe is from last year, but it perfectly captures how Sequim felt as Briscoe’s CHS teammates ran wild Monday. (John Fisken photo)

Unleash the beasts.

There came a moment Monday, midway through a very-competitive game, when the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball squad began to channel the Detroit Pistons of the Bad Boys era.

Five players moving as one, each one attacking, relentlessly and without mercy, causing the other team to panic and crumble in on itself.

Sparked by a full-court press defense initiated by the players themselves — Kalia Littlejohn subtly nodding at coach David King and whispering “We good, my man?” and King nodding back, small smile on his lips — the game changed in a flash.

And that’s how you go from a four-point deficit halfway through the third quarter to a 12-point lead and eventually a very-satisfying 37-31 win over visiting Sequim.

The non-conference victory, coming against a large 2A school, gives the 1A Wolves their tenth straight win, lifting them to 14-3 on the season.

When the game changed from a war between fairly-even teams to a beat-down of savage proportions, it came because of Coupeville’s #1 strength — its defense.

Mikayla Elfrank was chasing everything down, including a moment she hurtled cross-court, went air-borne and somehow, against all the rules of how reality works, managed to spin a ball off of her startled foe’s leg and out of bounds.

With every roar from the crowd, the Wolves found a new spring in their strut and Sequim’s shoulders sagged a little further.

Kalia Littlejohn, working in tandem with big sis Mia, savaged the rival ball-handlers with glee, at one point spiking the ball out of a six-foot player’s hands and turning it into a game-busting breakaway layup.

Regardless of how he shuffled his lineup, King was rewarded.

Sometimes it was Lindsey Roberts and Kailey Kellner banging on the boards or Allison Wenzel elbowing everyone in sight or Tiffany Briscoe launching herself onto a loose ball like she was recovering a football fumble.

Notably, both of the Sequim players who could have given Briscoe a run for the ball chose not to, unable to contend with … yes … say it together … a rampaging beast.

Huge smile on her face, and all the air knocked out of her chest, Briscoe was promptly set upon by all four of her teammates, fellow defensive demon Lauren Grove patting her on the head as the rest slapped her back.

Once Coupeville had the lead, turning a 17-13 deficit into a 19-17 lead headed into the fourth, the Wolves were relentless.

Showcasing a nifty touch at the free throw stripe, Elfrank, Mia Littlejohn and Kellner combined to hit eight free throws in the fourth quarter.

When they weren’t getting fouled, the Wolves were running their fourth-quarter offense at a nice clip, with Mia Littlejohn bobbing, weaving, burning time off the clock and setting up her teammates.

She had a hot shooting touch all game, pacing Coupeville with 15, but it was her passing, crisp set-ups and sweet lil’ dishes while gliding through the paint, that drew much appreciation from her coach.

Mia Littlejohn’s biggest assist might have come with a little over a minute to play, as she waited for Elfrank to progressively bump her defender deeper and deeper into the paint.

At the last second, the Wolf point guard arced a note-perfect pass over a defender’s arms, dropping it right onto her teammate’s outstretched finger tips, then watched in glee as Elfrank banked home a bucket to stretch the lead to 35-25.

Sequim found a little pluck, and a lot of luck, dropping back-to-back three-balls, both on shots that were not sure things going up, to tighten things back up in the final 60 seconds.

After the visitors made one of two free throws with 5.2 ticks on the clock — the second was successful but waved off for Sequim’s third lane violation of the night — Coupeville was clinging to a 35-31 lead and had a choice to make.

King, a former softball coach who led the Wolves to the state tourney, inserted CHS catcher Sarah Wright into the game to trigger the inbound play.

Cue the play that blew the roof off the joint.

Wright launched a full-court heave over the crowd and fellow sophomore sensation Lindsey Roberts, she of the school record sprinters speed, ran it down, reaching to the heavens to tip and snare the ball.

Somehow keeping her balance, while mom Sherry went appropriately bonkers in the stands, the heir to the vaunted Roberts athletic legacy roared in for a layup and the celebration was on.

The final bucket capped a game that was a defensive war in the early going, as Coupeville crept out to a 6-5 lead after one and a 12-10 advantage at the half.

Mia Littlejohn knocked down eight of her points before the break, while setting up the other two Wolf baskets with delightful dishes to Roberts and Briscoe.

The only time Coupeville fell behind came in the third, and it responded with a great save along the baseline from Roberts, which set up a three-ball from Mamma Mia.

And then the defense got nasty and did what it does.

Elfrank scored seven of her nine in the fourth quarter to back up Mia Littlejohn’s 15, while Kellner and Roberts each dropped in four.

Kalia Littlejohn added three and Briscoe’s bucket rounded out the scoring.

The two teams will face off again Thursday, this time in Sequim, before Coupeville closes the regular season Saturday (3:30 JV/5:00 varsity) with a home Olympic League game against Port Townsend.

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“Super, super proud of my guys!!”

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , , on January 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Joel Walstad rained down 17 points Friday, including the game-winning free throws. (John Fisken photos)

   Joel Walstad rained down 17 points Friday, including the game-winning free throws. (John Fisken photos)

"Hi, my name is CJ Smith and I'm unflappable under pressure."

“Hi, my name is CJ Smith and I’m unflappable under pressure.”

They needed this one, in so many ways.

To stay in the thick of the playoff race. For an emotional rebound after a blowout loss. To make themselves, and everyone else, true believers that they’re capable of closing a game.

So, when the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball team scored six points in the final 15 seconds Friday night to topple visiting Port Townsend 53-49, the resulting explosion of joy from the floor and stands was understandable.

Relief mixed with jubilation as the Wolves improved to 5-9 and moved into a third-place tie with the Redhawks in the Olympic League at 1-3.

Had they lost, they would have trailed Port Townsend by two games with five to play in the hunt for the four-team league’s final playoff berth.

Chimacum (3-0) and Klahowya (2-1), which were scheduled to tip off later Friday night, hold down the top two spots.

For the Wolves, their hard-earned victory, which avenged an earlier-season loss across the water, was huge.

Forced to play most of the first half without foul-plagued leading scorer Wiley Hesselgrave, down by seven after a cold start in the third, stabbed several times by the refs in the waning moments, they refused to blink, refused to lose.

“This was a good team win. We tell them, all that hard work will pay off, as long as we continue to believe in each other, and they did,” said CHS coach Anthony Smith. “I am super, super proud of my guys and how they played.”

The game was a gut-wrencher at the end, as the two teams traded body blows.

Having used a 9-3 run to close the third, with Hesselgrave’s elegant three-pointer from deep on the left side slicing the lead to one, Coupeville opened the fourth with a bang.

Just as he had done to start the second quarter, Wolf big man Ryan Griggs, reviving the aggressive defensive style of dad Kit Manzanares, a former CHS hoops star back in the day, rose up and rejected a Townsend shot into the second row of the bleachers.

Riding high on emotion, the Wolves ripped off six straight points, with buckets from a gimpy but game Aaron Trumbull, an electric Joel Walstad (who threw down a season-high 17) and Hesselgrave.

But, up 47-44, Coupeville couldn’t hold the lead, even though they tried to hold the ball for a bit and burn the clock.

The Redhawks used a three-point play and a basket off a second-chance rebound to grab what would prove to be their final lead at 49-47.

Then, things got dramatic. Super dramatic.

Trumbull, playing on a beat-up leg and a lot of guts, appeared to tie the game, only to have his basket waved off by a ref after Griggs, flying high through the air, hit the rim.

The offensive goal-tending call was a questionable one, however, as the ball appeared to have already dropped through the net and was not on the rim, which would have required the basket being subtracted.

It would have been easy to break at that moment, but the Wolves refused.

Teammates grabbed Griggs and reassured him he had done nothing wrong, while Hesselgrave, channeling his inner Beast Mode, immediately forced a turnover at mid-court after freaking out the Redhawk ball-handler.

The sight of the Wolf middle linebacker charging at him, nostrils flaring and eyes afire, will haunt his dreams for years.

With the ball back in their possession, the Wolves opted to go away from their normal top scoring threats, riding the suddenly red-hot shooting touch of junior CJ Smith.

Crashing the paint from the side, while being hammered Detroit Pistons Bad Boys-style (they’re only going to call one foul, so all five players hit the shooter), he nailed a sweet runner under duress to forge the game’s final tie at 49.

While many would have expected the ball to go to Hesselgrave or Walstad in that situation, it was an easy call for the Wolf coaches to go to Smith, who finished with 11.

“CJ is the best player on our team in getting to the basket,” Anthony Smith said.

Still intent on backstabbing Coupeville, the refs took one final shot, calling a nit-picky foul as the Wolves appeared to force another turnover on the next play.

At which point all of Wolf Nation unleashed its vocal cords, the Redhawk shooter rimmed out his freebie and Walstad climbed the stairway to hoops heaven to grab the game’s biggest rebound.

The final eight seconds of the game was a clinic on grace under pressure, as Walstad and then Hesselgrave both swished a pair of free throws, while, in between, Port Townsend again missed the front end of a one-and-one.

The tension-racked ending capped a game where a different team led after each quarter.

Down 10-9 after one, Coupeville got six from Walstad in the second and put together a 16-11 run to take a four-point lead in at the break.

The third was a series of streaks, with Port Townsend reclaiming the lead, stretching it out to seven, then buckling under the charge of Hesselgrave in the final moments.

All of which set up a fourth quarter to remember and a win to treasure.

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“Without the team, what’s basketball?!!”

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , , on November 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Risen Johnson prepares to take off during a running drill. (John Fisken photos)

Risen Johnson prepares to take off during a running drill. (John Fisken photos)

Johnson shadows Wolf freshman Nick Etzell.

Johnson shadows Wolf freshman Nick Etzell.

He’s learning from the best.

Risen Johnson, who transferred from Oak Harbor to Coupeville for his junior year and is in contention to earn a slot on the Wolf boys’ varsity hoops squad, tabs “Bad Boys” as his favorite film.

No, not the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence cop shoot-em-up, but the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the Detroit Pistons of the late ’80s and early ’90s.

That squad, led by Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman, won back-to-back titles, dominated the NBA and frustrated the crud out of Michael Jordan with their five-fouls-per-play rule.

With Coupeville coach Anthony Smith putting an emphasis on defense, having the Pistons as role models should benefit Johnson.

But defense is not the only thing he brings to the floor.

Bouncing between the guard positions, Johnson, who also plays baseball, says his strength is “probably my handles,” though he would like to work a bit on his left-handed layups.

Having picked up the game at age five, he’s a firm believer in playing the way the Bad Boys always did — as a team, a five-man unit that moved together, played together, lived and died for each other on the court.

“I started because my older brother and uncle played, so I wanted to play with them and it always stuck with me ever since,” Johnson said. “I enjoy the whole team part and getting wins.

“Without the team, what’s basketball?”

While he’s new to the Wolf squad, he already had connections on the team before the jump to Coupeville.

Friends with CHS players Dante and DeAndre Mitchell, Johnson wanted a chance to suit up with them.

Now that he’s here, Johnson, who picks U.S. History with Randy King and conditioning with Brett Smedley as his favorite classes, has quickly bought into the team-wide goal of making a strong debut in the new 1A Olympic League.

“My goals for this upcoming season are to get that trophy, the banner, and to have fun with the team,” Johnson said.

While his distinctive first name is likely to catch people’s attention, he’s not sure if it has any special meaning.

“I actually do not know the story behind my name,” Johnson said. “I just know that I was named after my uncle.”

Give him a little time in a Wolf uniform and he should more than make a name for himself.

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