With a win Tuesday, Xavier Murdy and Coupeville finished 8-4, the first winning season for a Wolf boys hoops squad since 2010. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Concern? Yes.
Panic? Not at all.
Bouncing back from an early deficit, the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball squad rained down pain on visiting Darrington Tuesday night, pulling away in the middle two quarters for a season-closing win.
Using a 47-9 run to bust open the game across the second and third frames, the Wolves turned a six-point deficit into an eventual 64-29 romp.
The victory lifts Coupeville’s final record to 8-4 in this pandemic-altered season, leaving them just a half-game off of Northwest 2B/1B League champ Mount Vernon Christian.
CHS beat MVC (8-3) both times they played this season, with the Hurricanes benefiting from playing one less game than the Wolves.
That’s thanks to MVC not hosting Orcas Island, after the Vikings requested no fans be allowed to attend their road games during the pandemic.
Coupeville joined Concrete as the only schools from the seven-team NWL to play a full 12-game league schedule this spring.
Three of Coupeville’s four losses were decided by one play (a pair of one-point defeats to Friday Harbor and a two-point loss to La Conner) and the Wolves backed down against no one.
Sparked by seniors Daniel Olson, Sage Downes, and TJ Rickner, who were honored Tuesday, this year’s squad became the first Wolf boys varsity hoops team to post a winning record since 2010.
TJ Rickner was one of three Wolf seniors honored Tuesday. (Morgan White photos)
With 10 players eligible to return next season, including two-time scoring champ Hawthorne Wolfe, CHS coach Brad Sherman has much talent to work with going forward.
Thanks to the pandemic pushing basketball from the winter to the spring, the turnaround between seasons will be much shorter than normal.
That left the Wolves trying to balance the joy of what they accomplished this season with almost immediately planning for plunging into the work to take the next step — winning the program’s first league title since 2002, a time when Sherman was a player, and not a coach.
“Certainly great to send our seniors off with a big team win like that,” he said. “This team has a lot to feel good about this year – the resilience they showed through the off-season was remarkable.
“The way they came together during this shortened season, and the growth they showed as a group while they battled it out in this new league was really fun to be a part of,” Sherman added.
“Proud of each of these boys for the hard work and grit they showed week in and week out – and I hope they can look back and be proud of it too.”
Daniel Olson made key contributions, especially on defense, to lead his squad to a winning record this spring.
With its three seniors playing their final game four days after graduation, Coupeville came out a bit slowly against Darrington.
The night’s first bucket didn’t fall until the 5:42 mark of the first quarter, as Sage Downes slapped home a rebound, and then things got even drier.
The Loggers hit a pair of three-balls and jumped on Coupeville, building an 8-2 lead and sending the slightest of tremors through the gathered Wolf faithful.
But any trepidation didn’t last very long, as CHS started to heat up from behind the arc.
Back-to-back three-balls from Xavier Murdy and Wolfe got the crowd happy, before Hawk knifed the Loggers with another trey, this one off an inbounds pass and let loose from way behind the line.
Darrington’s final lead came at 13-11, before Alex Murdy flipped the switch.
A layup, off a pass from his brother, tied the game, then the sophomore sparkplug used a nifty Euro step move to stake CHS to a 15-13 lead at the first break.
Alex wasn’t done, slashing through the paint for a bucket to open the second quarter, and that unleashed a tsunami.
A 23-7 run in the second frame pushed the halftime lead to 38-20, before a 24-2 surge in the third put Coupeville up 62-22 heading into the final quarter.
The Wolves hit from every angle, with the majority of their scoring plays coming off of sharply-thrown passes, each player taking the time to set up their teammate on a night when everyone got a chance to contribute.
Wolfe, who knocked down two more three-balls along the way, was a wizard with the ball, whipping passes to Sage Downes and Grady Rickner for easy buckets.
Both Murdy brothers delivered note-perfect assists as well, while Wolfe, Olson, and Sage Downes teamed up for a bingo-bango-bongo series of passes which covered one end of the floor to the other.
Sage Downes played strongly at both ends of the floor in his finale.
Playing for the final time in a CHS uniform, Sage Downes paced the Wolves with a team-high 14 points, while Wolfe settled for a fairly-quiet 12.
That was still enough to lift the junior gunner three spots on the program’s career scoring chart, as he passes Jason McFadyen (654), Wade Ellsworth (659), and Pat Bennett (659) to move into 24th place across 104 seasons.
Wolfe sits with 662 points heading into his senior season, leaving him just 26 points shy of breaking into the top 20.
Alex Murdy added 10 points Tuesday, with freshman Logan Downes (9), Grady Rickner (7), Xavier Murdy (7), TJ Rickner (3), and Olson (2) also scoring.
With 221 career points, Xavier Murdy is now #125 on the all-time chart, needing 85 points next season to pass uncle Allen Black to become his family’s top scorer.
Logan Martin, Cole White, Jonathan Valenzuela, Miles Davidson, and Cody Roberts rounded out the roster, with everyone seeing floor time in the finale.
Final season scoring stats:
Hawthorne Wolfe – 252
Xavier Murdy – 122
Grady Rickner – 94
Sage Downes – 64
Logan Downes – 52
Daniel Olson – 51
Alex Murdy – 49
Logan Martin – 31
TJ Rickner – 18
Jonathan Valenzuela – 15
Cody Roberts – 8
Miles Davidson – 4
Cole White – 2
