Aiden Burdge, seen here last season, was a spark-plug Monday for Coupeville. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
All in all, a pretty good day.
Facing off with visiting Blue Heron Monday, the Coupeville Middle School boys basketball squads came away with a split highlighted by the Wolf varsity romping to a big win.
The JV wasn’t quite as lucky, but did close with an especially strong fourth quarter in its loss.
Varsity:
In a game with a lot of offense, it was a superb defensive stand which launched the Wolves to a 64-43 win, evening their record at 2-2 on the season.
After a back-and-forth slug-fest of a first quarter which ended with things knotted at 17-17, Coupeville held Blue Heron without a field goal for 10 minutes.
20, if you count the halftime break.
Pushing the ball hard on breakaways — speed demon Hawthorne Wolfe knocked down 10 of his game-high 21 in the second quarter — then getting back on defense as a unit, CMS broke Blue Heron’s spirit.
A 16-3 romp in the second, in which the visitors could only manage three free throws (while missing five), juiced up the crowd.
Then, without missing a beat, the Wolves switched up and pounded the ball down low to Caleb Meyer, who opened the third quarter with back-to-back buckets while out-muscling his defender.
With the game blown wide open, Coupeville was able to withstand a very-effective three-ball wizard in a road uniform. While the Blue Heron gunner knocked down six treys, most of them came long after the game was decided.
And, just to show the visitors that they too could hit from behind the arc, the Wolves swished six balls from distance.
Wolfe hit the first, Logan Martin nailed a twisting miracle, Meyer knocked one down from the top, while Grady Rickner torched the net.
Putting a cap on the win, Rickner hit three-balls on three straight trips down the court to open the fourth quarter.
Each one came from a little further back, and each one sent his teammates and fans into ever-growing hysterics.
Proving they could attack from any angle, the Wolves closed the game by ditching the threes and punctuating things with some old-school savagery.
Gabe Shaw yanked down a rebound, pulling it away from a rival, then stepped between two defenders and set up Xavier Murdy for a layup with a crisp bounce pass.
Very next play, Murdy climbed into the sky to soundly reject a shot from Blue Heron’s tallest player.
Full of swagger at the start of the game, but clutching a stitch in his side midway through the third, the visitor learned one final lesson — don’t mess with X.
CMS spread out its offensive attack, with Meyer rattling the rim for 14 and Rickner tickling the twines for 12 in support of Wolfe’s 21.
Murdy and Martin each knocked down seven, Cody Roberts (a whirling dervish on defense) added three and Shaw and Aiden Burdge provided quality minutes off the bench.
JV:
A rough second quarter, in which the Wolves surrendered a 16-2 run, doomed Coupeville in a 62-46 loss.
CMS, which boasts little experience among its young guns, fell to 0-4.
But, while the final margin was substantial, it was radically cut down, as the Wolves sliced away at a 27-point deficit, getting it down to 16 by game’s end.
With Isaiah Bittner working hard in the paint and Dominic Coffman flying all over the place, Coupeville opened the fourth with 11 straight points.
After giving up back-to-back buckets, CMS went right back to Bittner and his hot hand, coasting in on a 5-1 run.
Coupeville, with a bit of unintentional trickery, stayed close in the game’s opening minutes.
At one point midway through the first quarter, a Wolf missed his cue to exit the game, and CMS attacked with six players on the floor.
With the odds ever in his favor, Burdge slashed to the hoop for a bucket.
Both coaching staffs, like the refs, didn’t notice the discrepancy until AFTER Blue Heron pulled the ball from the net, in-bounded it again and headed back up-court.
To the delight of the home crowd and the deep consternation of the visiting coaches, who later got an official warning from the refs for complaining after a different play, the basket stood.
Blue Heron got their revenge in the second quarter, though, using a string of fast-break layups to turn an eight-point lead into a 22-point bulge.
Lost in the hail of buckets for the visitors was a superb pass from Wolf guard Tony Garcia to Coffman.
Working an in-bound play to perfection, Garcia delivered his picture-perfect assist through a tangle of Blue Heron arms, while Coffman caught the pass, spun and nailed home a beauty of a banker.
Bittner finished with 12 points to pace the Wolves, while Shaw went off for eight of his 10 in the third quarter.
Alex Murdy (8), Coffman (6), Damon Stadler (4), Burdge (4) and Ty Hamilton (2) also scored, while Kevin Partida, Garcia, Levi Pulliam and Brayden Coatney rounded out the roster.
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