The Battlin’ Bronec Brothers hang out with their fan club president. (Photo courtesy Brittney Spolar)
It’s all about the numbers.
Auburn Adventist Academy entered Monday’s varsity boys’ basketball showdown with host Coupeville sporting a pristine 6-0 record and a higher RPI than the Wolves.
But on a night when at least five hometown hoops stars hit personal scoring milestones, CHS proved to be too much for the Eagles, rebuking them 69-57.
The non-conference victory lifts Coupeville to 9-2 heading into a big Northwest 2B/1B League showdown Friday at Orcas Island, while sending notice to the computer ranking systems out there.
Beware the bite of the Wolves.
Brad Sherman’s squad fell behind for a hot second to open their bout with the team which eliminated them from the playoffs last season, then came roaring back to life.
The turning point wasn’t a bucket, or a pass, or a rebound, but instead Cole White, AKA “He Who Bleeds For Us,” stepping in front of a runaway freight train and drawing the offensive charge on an out-of-control Eagle.
Th lanky point guard didn’t actually lose any bodily fluids on that play, but did later in the game, keeping alive his streak of sacrificing his personal well-being in return for hoops success.
But blood on the floor or not, the play sparked something deep inside the Wolves, who immediately ripped off a 12-2 run to end the first quarter.
Logan Downes knocked down six of those points, with White and Chase Anderson offering their support, and it sent CHS to the bench boasting a solid 21-11 lead.
Once they were ahead, the Wolves maintained things, playing with cool heads even when things got heated during violent collisions on the floor in pursuit of loose balls.
Auburn players, when they weren’t complaining about the reffing, fractured a bit, while Wolf after Wolf stepped up and seized the moment.
Seniors Zane Oldenstadt and Nick Guay came off the bench to deliver one bucket apiece, with both baskets coming at key moments, while the Battlin’ Bronec Brothers, Hurlee and Hunter, controlled the boards while dodging frequent elbows to the face.
Zane Oldenstadt enjoys basketball wins and goldfish – the finer things in life. (Photo courtesy Michelle Glass)
The two squads played straight up through the middle two frames, with Auburn claiming a 15-14 advantage in the second quarter, before Coupeville flipped that score in the third.
The Wolves stretched the lead out to 14 at one point, while the Eagles could never get back closer than eight the rest of the night.
Hunter Bronec drew another offensive charging foul on Auburn, while Downes and Anderson played quarterback and receiver, the former throwing long bombs to the latter, who broke free, snagged the lobs, and slapped home breakaway layups.
Then, in the fourth, it was time for Hurlee Bronec to step up and thwart an Eagle bucket, becoming the third Wolf to draw a charge.
While one twin was taking a blow to the body, and living to tell the tale, the other one was dropping game-busting baskets.
Scoring seven of his nine points in the fourth, Hunter Bronec kept the Eagles at bay, while assuring that Auburn couldn’t focus its defense solely on Downes, who rattled home seven of his own in the frame.
As the Wolves celebrated, Auburn moped, and the computers blew a gasket, CHS coaches Brad Sherman and Greg White marinated in the pleasantness of a balanced offensive attack.
Seven Wolves scored, with three hitting double digits.
Downes, who torched Auburn for 40 in a regular-season game last year, notched 30 this time out, moving from #6 to #4 on the CHS boys’ basketball career scoring list.
With 1,035 points and counting, he passes ’70s star Jeff Rhubottom (1,012) and ’50s man-mountain Mike Criscoula (1,031) and is #8 among all scorers in school history.
Next up is current Wolf girls’ basketball coach Megan Smith (1,042), while only Randy Keefe (1,088), Mike Bagby (1,137), and Jeff Stone (1,137) are ahead on the boys list.
Chase Anderson added 11 Monday, giving him 142 for his career.
Among those he passes are his own dad Craig (132) as well as Sandy Roberts (134), pops to Jon Roberts, who coaches the Wolf JV in tandem with Craig Anderson.
The third Coupeville player to hit double digits was Cole White, who made the net jump for 10 points.
That moves him into 100th place on the 107-year scoring chart with 296 points, a list where dad Greg sits at #33 with 604.
The duo are the first father and son in the top 100, and together they have scored 900 points.
There were those key buckets for Guay and Oldenstadt previously mentioned, while Hunter Bronec added nine points and Ryan Blouin caressed the nets for five.
I said five milestones and you’ve only seen three is your thought.
Au contraire mon frère.
Bronec’s nine gives him a nice round 50 points for his career, while Blouin hits 125.
Yep, milestones upon milestones for stats freaks everywhere to enjoy.
And wins for the rest of you.
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