Coupeville senior Daniel Olson, seen here in an earlier game, was a wrecking ball on defense Tuesday in an OT thriller. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
It has been a nightly trip to the Thunderdome.
In a year when tickets are free — if you can get them — almost every varsity boys basketball game played by Northwest 2B/1B League schools has been a brawl decided at the buzzer.
While La Conner crushes almost every girls team in sight, six of seven NWL boys teams, including Coupeville, are leaving it out there on the floor like Hagler and Hearns whaling on each other on ESPN Classic.
Look it up, you young whippersnappers…
Tuesday’s titanic tilt between the Wolves and visiting Friday Harbor was a prime example, if a bittersweet one.
Shooting itself in the foot with 14 missed free throws and a late technical foul for yapping at the refs, Coupeville fell 63-62 in overtime, and slips out of first-place, at least for the moment.
The Wolves, who had a four-game winning streak snapped, fall to 6-4 with games against Concrete (0-10) and Darrington (2-4) left to play.
Win at least one of those and Coupeville clinches its first winning boys basketball season since 2010.
With the victory, its second one-point triumph over the Wolves in a three-week stretch, Friday Harbor moves into a tie with Mount Vernon Christian at 6-3 in NWL play.
Coupeville’s record is deceptive, with three of four losses being decided by two points or less.
The other defeat, an early-season stumble against Orcas Island, was the result of one bad quarter in a game the Wolves otherwise dominated.
Tuesday’s rumble, while it ended without the result desired by Coupeville, was a thing of fiery beauty, with two incredibly evenly-matched squads trading big blows from start to finish.
Friday Harbor jumped out to an early 12-7 lead, before the Wolves closed the opening quarter with a 7-0 run.
Sage Downes, twirling in the paint, lofted a mini sky-hook which banked in off the glass, before Hawthorne Wolfe flipped the nets skyward with a three-ball from the left side.
Toss in a rebound put-back from Grady Rickner, and Coupeville exited the first quarter up 14-12 and feeling pretty good about things.
The second quarter was a straight-up rumble, with Daniel Olson and TJ Rickner bringing defensive heat, using their long arms to snuff out Friday Harbor shots with resounding blocks.
Wolf freshman Logan Downes, getting increased playing time with defensive ball of energy Alex Murdy sidelined with an injury, stepped into the offensive spotlight with a roar.
Making off with a steal, he beat the pack to the other end for a layup, then came back around to drop his own three-ball.
While Friday Harbor pulled back in front at 28-26 at the half, before stretching the margin to 34-28 early in the third quarter, the Wolves were snapping at the visitor’s heels.
Two free throws from Xavier Murdy lit the fuse on a 9-0 CHS run, with Wolfe delivering the dagger on a high-risk, high-reward play.
Trying to slice past his man, the CHS gunner slipped on a wet spot on the floor, but recovered like a dancer springing into the air.
Never losing control of his dribble, Wolfe popped up, launching (and hitting) a three-ball which went up on a prayer and hit nothing but net.
That sent Coupeville to the bench with a 39-36 lead after three quarters, and set up a final frame with six lead changes and three ties.
Wolfe and Logan Downes both rattled home three-balls in the fourth — with Hawk launching his shot from somewhere down around the Clinton ferry — while Xavier Murdy got three the hard way.
Shooting up the gut, X-Man hung in the air, waited for his defender to commit, then wiggled around him and knocked down a runner, followed by the free throw he earned for getting whacked around the ears.
Murdy’s uncle, Allen Black, who once torched Concrete for 39 points during his own days of wearing Coupeville’s red and black, nodded and let slip the smallest of smiles.
A seismic moment, for one and all.
Coupeville claimed its biggest lead at 55-51 after Wolfe flipped a pair of free throws through the twines with 1:23 to play, but then he and his team went scoreless the rest of regulation.
Friday Harbor couldn’t hit a field goal either, but Dylan Roberson, who bedeviled CHS all night, did knock down four consecutive free throws in the waning moments.
With the ball in its hands, and a chance to run the game clock down to almost 0:00 before shooting, Coupeville launched the final shot in regulation, but it refused to stay in the basket.
The ensuing rebound did skip nice and high however, preventing Friday Harbor from getting off its own shot, sending the game to overtime.
And those four minutes were a whirlwind of tension and terror, with six lead changes.
Olson knocked down a short shot off an inbounds play, then netted a free throw on a later play to stake Coupeville to a 58-55 lead, only for Friday Harbor to respond in kind.
With the visitors clamping down on Hawk and X-Man, supporting players Logan Martin and Grady Rickner stepped up big time.
Martin popped a jumper from the side to push CHS up 60-59, while Rickner was flawless on two free throws with 14.7 seconds to play to reclaim the lead at 62-61.
But, in a season when the wins have been epic, and the losses even more so, Coupeville was denied another chance for its students to storm the court.
Friday Harbor scored again, forcing its way into the paint for an in-close bucket with 3.7 seconds left, before Martin’s potential game-winner at the buzzer slid just wide.
While both teams hit 17 free throws, the visitors were 17-21, including 1-2 on a fourth-quarter technical foul when Coupeville was clinging to a one-point lead.
CHS was 17-31 at the charity stripe, winning the battle to get to the line, but leaving far more points off the board than their foe once there.
Wolfe paced Coupeville with a team-high 18 points, continuing his historic run up the boys hoops career scoring chart.
With 643 points and counting, the CHS junior passed Wiley Hesselgrave (632), Kramer O’Keefe (636), and Rich Morris (637) Tuesday, and now sits #27 all-time on a list which covers 104 seasons.
Logan Downes pumped in 10, while Sage Downes netted nine, Grady Rickner knocked down eight, and Xavier Murdy collected seven.
Olson (6) and Martin (4) also scored, with TJ Rickner playing strongly on defense.
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