Former Wolf great Boom Phomvongkoth played twice on Jan. 25 in a three-year period between 1992-1994. (John Fisken photo)
Hunter Hammer (left) and Dalton Engle played key roles in Coupeville upsetting South Whidbey five years ago today, when Ian Smith hit “The Shot.” (Photo courtesy Linda Hammer)
Let’s get historical for a second.
Today marks the five-year anniversary of “The Shot” — Ian Smith banking home a lunging three-pointer at the buzzer to slay South Whidbey 44-42 on its own home court.
The basket shattered a ten-game Falcon winning streak, took down the first-place team in the Cascade Conference and ignited an explosion from the visitors side of the bleachers that has yet to fade.
To this day, video of that miracle — in which the Wolves snagged a rebound off of a missed South Whidbey free throw, got the ball to Tyler King, then watched as somehow, trapped, he spun the ball to Smith at the very last second — still enjoys huge popularity online.
So, with my recent temporary acquisition of 17 of the 20 score-books from Randy King’s tenure as CHS basketball coach, I got to wondering. What else might have happened on this day?
Turns out the Wolf boys played six times on Jan. 25 during King’s reign (that we know of; remember, I’m missing a couple of books), winning three.
Let’s go hop in the Way-back Machine, shall we, and explore this day in Coupeville basketball history.
1992: Wolves fall 70-39 to Tolt
King’s first season as head coach was a rough affair, as he had no seniors and had to throw an extremely young roster on the floor every night during an 0-20 campaign.
This night was not as bad as the other game against Tolt (a 101-41 loss) or their non-conference battle with a Blaine squad that refused to stop pressing the entire game (105-18), but the Wolves were also starting a three-game stretch without their top scorer, Virgil Roehl.
Tied at eight after the first quarter, CHS crumbled in the second (22-7) and fourth (20-9).
The lone bright spot came at the charity stripe, where Coupeville held a 19-5 advantage, led by Troy Blouin, who went a crisp 8-8.
Blouin netted 14 to pace the Wolves, while Brandon Huff banged home 12.
Scott Sollars (6), Matt Douglas (3), Boom Phomvongkoth (2), Jason McManigle (1) and Kit Manzanares (1) rounded out the attack.
1994: Wolves nipped 84-76 by Cedarcrest
This game was decided on free throws, with the Red Wolves hitting seven in the fourth, while Coupeville clanged five in the same time frame.
The final eight minutes were an offensive explosion all around, with 52 of the game’s 160 points (27-25 Coupeville) coming in the fourth quarter, keeping scorer Stephanie Engle’s fingers flying.
Five of the six Wolves who scored hit double digits, led by Brad Miller (19) and Manzanares (17).
Phomvongkoth and Matt Ortega dropped 11 apiece, while Roehl (10) and Gabe McMurray (8) both fouled out during a frantic finish.
2000: Wolves thrash Concrete 89-60
Third time’s the charm, as the Wolves opened on this Jan. 25 with a a 25-3 first quarter assault, then tacked on another 25-10 run to carry a 50-13 lead into the locker room.
Caesar Kortuem was out of his mind, outscoring Concrete by himself in the first half.
Knocking down shots from everywhere, he had 15 of what would turn out to be a career-high 26 before the break.
Now, here’s where it gets tricky to know exactly what happened simply based on cold hard numbers in a book.
With the lead expanded to 72-28 after three quarters, you would expect a running clock to be in effect, and yet Concrete somehow had enough time to score 32 in the fourth.
That’s correct. The Lions tallied more than 50% of their offense in the final eight minutes, at a time when the clock should have been zooming out of control.
Either they took advantage of every single possession or someone forgot to trigger the mercy rule.
In the end, all nine Wolves who played scored, with Patrick Bennett (13), Jason Fisher (11) and Noah Roehl (10) joining Kortuem in double digits.
Matt Frost (9), Joe Donnellon (9), Chris Good (6), Ty Blouin (3) and Geoff Hageman (2) all scored as well.
2005: Wolves slip by Orcas 55-48 (or was it 53-48?)
Two straight Jan. 25 wins, as Coupeville jumped to a 20-5 first quarter lead and never looked back.
It was Blake Day’s night, as the Wolf gunner sank four treys en route to a team-high 14.
Andrew Mouw banked in 12 in support, while Mike Bagby tickled the twines for 10. Trevor Tucker (9), JJ Marti (6) and current CHS assistant coach Trent Diamanti (2) all etched their names in the score-book, as well.
Now, the only question is, did Coupeville score 55 or 53?
The score-keeper wrote 55 in as the final score, but the quarter scores and the individual stats both add up to 53, but, as they say, a win’s a win, even if the stats don’t add up.
2008: Wolves foiled by South Whidbey 51-46
Those dastardly Falcons slipped away with one, thanks to a dead-eye from the line in the fourth.
Clinging to a one-point lead after three quarters, South Whidbey hit 10 free throws in the final eight minutes (Coupeville swished only seven all night) to win the all-Island rumble.
Kramer O’Keefe torched the nets for a game-high 17 to pace the Wolves, while Brian Miller (13), Alex Evans (8), Zepher Loesch (6) and James Smith (2) also scored.
Of note, Cody Peters, who would score 518 points over the course of this season and the next, is listed as having played in all four quarters — yet went scoreless for what seems to be the one and only time in his Wolf varsity career.
On that Jan. 25, the Falcons would celebrate, but, three years in the future, redemption, and Ian Smith, lurked.
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