Jermiah Copeland looks for an open man. (Chloe Marzocca photo)
They bounced back in a big way.
Coming off a tough road loss at Mount Vernon Christian, the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball team rebounded to drill host Concrete Tuesday.
Capping a four-game road trip, the Wolves won for the eighth time in their last 10 games, demolishing the Lions 75-22.
With 10 different players scoring, including sophomore Hunter Bronec tossing in his first varsity bucket, CHS gets to 3-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 10-6 overall.
Up next is a return home, for the first time in two weeks, and a rumble with Friday Harbor Jan. 27.
That Friday-night tilt has major playoff implications, as Coupeville tries to move a step closer to clinching District 1’s top seed for the bi-district tourney.
Two of three 2B schools from the NWL punch playoff tickets, with the games between the trio of teams the deciding factor.
Coupeville is 1-0 in that saucy round-robin dance, La Conner 1-1, and Friday Harbor 0-1 with the Wolves hosting the Braves Feb. 7, then traveling to Friday Harbor Feb. 10 for the regular season finale.
Tuesday’s battle in the town Leonardo Di Caprio and Robert De Niro made infamous in This Boy’s Life was a romp from start to finish, save for one brief spell in the first quarter.
Jumping out to a 9-0 lead, Coupeville didn’t let Concrete score until the 4:40 mark of the opening frame, only to see the Lions then slap home seven unanswered points.
If they were fazed, the Wolves didn’t show it, merely going right back to work.
Nick Guay stopped the brief bleeding with a layup off of a lob from Alex Murdy, then the Wolf junior came back around to cap a 13-2 run by firing a full court pass to a sprinting Murdy, who beat the buzzer by a step.
Up 22-9 at the first break, Coupeville continued to push its lead out, combining three-balls from Ryan Blouin and Logan Downes with hard-fought buckets in the paint courtesy Jonathan Valenzuela and Cole White.
The halftime advantage was 41-17, though it could have been bigger.
Guay bounded high, snagged an offensive board and drilled the put-back jumper at the buzzer, only to have hometown refs wave off his highlight reel play, claiming it left his fingers too late.
Not that Coupeville needed the extra bucket, as it broke Concrete’s spirit in the third quarter, rolling up a 27-0 advantage across eight frantic minutes.
Murdy was wheelin’ and dealin’, firing beautiful set-up passes to his teammates, with seven different Wolves tallying points in the frame.
Leading 68-17 headed into the fourth, Coupeville coach Brad Sherman, who had been liberally substituting all night, gave his support players a chance to own the quarter.
Hunter Bronec is in a hurry to get somewhere. (Chloe Marzocca photo)
Jermiah Copeland splashed home his first three-ball as a Wolf, banking the ball off the glass while doing so, while both Bronec brothers, Hunter and Hurlee, got extensive floor time.
With Coupeville’s starters playing limited minutes, the scoring sheet was super-balanced.
Downes led the way with a game-high 20, while Murdy banked in 14, and White snapped the net for 10.
Dominic Coffman (7), Valenzuela (7), Blouin (5), Copeland (5), Guay (3), Hunter Bronec (2), and Zane Oldenstadt (2) also scored, with William Davidson and Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim pounding the boards.
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