Zane Oldenstadt flies high for the tip. (Morgan White photos)
Coupeville fans bring the love.
“And now … we win.”
Tuition for students at Northshore Christian Academy in Everett runs close to $9,000 a year.
All that money couldn’t buy the private school a win Thursday, however.
Having traveled to the wilds of Whidbey to face off with the Coupeville Middle School boys basketball squads, NCA found itself on the losing end of both contests played on the hardwood.
A sweet sweep for the public school Wolves, it gave Coupeville’s hoops stars a rare chance to shine in front of their hometown fans.
CMS hits the road for three straight games after Thursday’s rumble, starting with a Monday trip to Granite Falls.
The Wolves open the season with four of five on the road, but that does mean they will get to turn it around in the second half, with four of five at home.
“It’ll work out,” Coupeville coach Greg White said. “We’ll get to play at home when we’re playing better, because we’ll continue to improve as the season goes on.
“We’re looking forward to it.”
While Coupeville’s squads might not have been in mid-season form Thursday, they still played with passion, a lot of heart, and some considerable skill.
When things got tough, and they did in both games, the Wolves found a different gear and grabbed the wins, a testament to their grit.
How the day played out:
Level 1:
What doesn’t kill you makes you tougher. Or something like that.
Less than 24 hours after badly hurting his ankle in the season opener, Logan Downes, heavily-taped up and yet playing like a mad man, banked home a season-high 25 points as CMS won a wild 35-32 thriller.
The win evens Coupeville’s record at 1-1.
Thursday’s opener was a game of runs, as both teams took turns dropping hay-makers, with the biggest, most-explosive uppercut coming courtesy of the Wolves.
Having frittered away a nine-point second-half lead, thanks in large part to rimming out nine straight free throw attempts, Coupeville watched in horror as the game (seemingly) slipped away.
From up 24-15 late in the third, the Wolves found themselves on the wrong end of a 15-2 run, and trailed 30-26 with a hair over three minutes left to play.
The air in the CMS gym was thick with tension (or just all the fun odors to be found in a middle school gym…), and the Wolves huddled around their coach, faces covered in shadows.
At which point Downes smiled about something, teammate William Davidson chuckled, and, as one, Coupeville’s players strode back on to the court like Mike Tyson entering the boxing ring in his glory days.
The final 3:11 was a portrait of excellence, painted by the Wolves in a way which left few, if any, brush strokes for the visitors to add.
Downes struck first, breaking the press and throwing down a layup to pull CMS within a bucket.
That missing two points came courtesy Cole White, who, off of a pass from Downes, whirled and chucked up a shot which possibly sent his dad/coach’s heart through his shoes.
Except.
The ball was angled perfectly, and crashed through the net, somehow, with a very-satisfying whomp, sending his rockin’ fan section into a fit of delirium.
NCA was bent, but Davidson and Downes broke them on the very next play.
Jumping a pass, Mr. Freeze picked off the ball, shot past the startled former ball-handler, then dished the sweetest dish of the night to Downes, who was running like a young man with two good ankles.
Ball smacked into hands, and the third of Angie Downes‘ three sons exploded to the hoop for a sparkling layup, sending Coupeville ahead for good.
Moments later, Logan, this time standing still, broke that team-wide 0-9 free throw streak, swishing a pair of freebie shots to drive a final stake through the heart of Northshore.
The free throws were set up by Zane Oldenstadt, who out-wrestled two foes to claim possession of an offensive rebound, than had the presence of mind to kick the ball to Downes.
The play was one of many from his big men which brought a smile to Greg White’s face.
“Zane and Will played really tough for us today,” he said. “As a team, we rebounded and played help defense really well.
“We had a drastic improvement in that area from the first game. We responded well.”
The victory came despite a cold opening for the Wolves, who missed their first five free throws and fell behind 7-0 early in the game.
But, this was a game of runs, as mentioned before, and once CMS scored, it didn’t stop for awhile.
A Downes free throw finally put the Wolves on the board with 2:12 left in the first, and that set Coupeville off on a 17-2 run.
Four different CMS players scored in the second quarter, with many of the buckets set up by solid passes, such as Downes slashing to the hoop to find a perfect feed from Landon Roberts awaiting him upon arrival.
Davidson and White offered up points done the right way, with the former banging down low, and the latter tip-toeing through the paint while flicking the ball off the glass.
Nick Guay added a free throw, while Downes, playing out of his mind at times, hit one basket on which he snared a rebound, then knocked down the shot while being knocked backwards to the floor.
Somewhere in the moment right before his rear slammed into the hardwood, Downes, moving in slow motion while everyone around him whizzed by, arced the ball gently up to the heavens, where his prayer was answered.
The CMS eighth grader spread his 25 points out, hitting for three, nine, five, and eight across the four quarters of play, while five of his teammates provided scoring support.
Cole White banked in four points, Davidson and Oldenstadt added a bucket apiece, while Ryan Blouin and Guay rounded out the attack, each netting a free throw.
Level 2:
A great run to close the third quarter was the difference, as Coupeville turned a tie into a nine-point lead, then held off the visitors 23-19 despite going scoreless in the fourth quarter.
The win lifts the Wolves to a flawless 2-0 on the season.
This one had a weird rhythm to it, as Northshore stayed in the game by making some of the funkiest three-point shots ever seen, and nothing else, until late in the third quarter.
Coupeville drew first blood on a three-ball of its own, with Timothy Nitta picking up a loose ball in the left corner and letting fly, his ball snapping the net gently as it flopped through.
NCA responded with back-to-back treys, both from the same shooter, both on awkward-looking, but very-effective Hail Mary shots.
Going airborne, they seemed to have no chance, and yet both heaves rattled around the rim and somehow found a way to drop, causing some in the audience to wonder if we were witnessing a real-life version of Angels in the Outfield play out.
Whether there were celestial beings at work or not, the Wolves responded with more down-to-Earth work, starting with a sweet pull-up jumper on the move from Nathan Ginnings.
Back to within 6-5 at the first break, Coupeville got a Hunter Bronec free throw to open the second quarter.
And then, bam, Northshore’s #40 was at it again, with a three-ball that he snapped off from somewhere down around his ankles, sending a wobbly, but uncannily-accurate shot skyward, where it shattered the Vegas odds and hit pay-dirt.
If they were troubled by The Man Who Couldn’t Miss (except when he did, which was a lot), the Wolves didn’t show it.
Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim rolled hard to the hoop for a bucket, followed by back-to-back buckets from Jack Porter, the second off of a strong offensive rebound, and CMS was in charge.
Twin brother Johnny Porter tacked on a layup coming out of the halftime break, and, up 14-9, the Wolves were flowing.
Until another miracle three-ball splashed down, followed by the rarest of rarities in this game, a Northshore bucket off of an inside shot. A layup from a steal, it knotted the game at 14-14.
To which the Wolves, as a unit, turned, flexed hard, and closed the third quarter with a bold stand, comprised of one half lock-down defense, the other half superbly-executed shot-making.
Nitta rippled the net on a three-ball, then popped free for a rolling jumper, while Simpson-Pilgrim crashed hard to the hoop with a power move which brought back memories of Karl Malone delivering the mail.
Toss in a final bucket in the paint from Hurlee Bronec, and the lead was back to 23-14 headed to the final quarter.
Which was a good thing, as the Wolves went stone-cold in the ol’ shooting department across the final seven minutes.
Strong defense, especially when it came to crashing the boards, kept NCA from staging a full-on comeback, and the Wolves rode the glass work of Mikey Robinett, Simpson-Pilgrim, and Co. to the win.
Nitta paced the Wolves with eight points, while Johnny Porter (4), Simpson-Pilgrim (4), Hurlee Bronec (2), Jack Porter (2), Ginnings (2), and Hunter Bronec (1) also scored.
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