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Posts Tagged ‘Jordan Ford’

On the prowl!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Hunter Smith (3), seen here in an earlier game, poured in 16 Tuesday, one of three Wolves to break double digits. (John Fisken photo)

   Hunter Smith (3), seen here in an earlier game, poured in 16 Tuesday, one of three Wolves to break double digits. (John Fisken photo)

Never turn your back on a Wolf.

Chimacum may be the defending 1A Olympic League boys’ basketball champs, but Coupeville is coming for that title.

There is no doubt about that.

Throwing down a 27-point fourth quarter Tuesday night, in which six different players scored, the Wolves rallied for a 72-65 road win that has sent reverberations through the league standings.

The third straight win for a suddenly-jelling CHS squad, it lifted Coupeville to 7-6 overall, 2-1 in league play.

A win Friday night at Port Townsend (5-8, 3-0) and the Wolves will be tied for first place with five games to play.

Chimacum (3-11, 1-2) would claim the league’s third and final playoff berth right now, while Klahowya (1-13, 0-3) would be on the outside looking in.

The Cowboys and Eagles also face off Friday.

Playing in the opening game of a doubleheader Tuesday, the Coupeville boys battled basket for basket with Chimacum for the first three quarters. But they couldn’t quite get over the hump.

Down 14-12 after one, they trailed 31-27 at the half and 49-44 after three.

Maybe.

If that’s true, Coupeville’s 27-16 performance in the fourth should have given them a 71-65 win, and that’s what the scoring totals in the book reflect.

But the Chimacum scoreboard operator, and both coaches, are hanging their hats on 72-65, so we’ll just have to accept a point got lost somewhere.

Either way, the Wolves closed like a team with its eyes locked firmly on the prize.

Silky-smooth senior guard Risen Johnson poured in eight of his team-high 18 in the final quarter, and Coupeville, a streaky team when it comes to hitting free throws, was a sizzling 8 of 11 at crunch time.

Jordan Ford came up big as well, with six in the fourth, while Hunter Smith chipped in with five and Wiley Hesselgrave netted all four of his points at the end.

Coupeville continues to be a very well-balanced squad, with three players in a virtual dead-heat for the team scoring lead.

Hesselgrave, at 156 points on the season, is narrowly ahead of Johnson and Ford, who are tied with 151.

Smith, who missed a chunk of the season with an injury, continues to heat up as he gets his legs back under himself.

He hit for 16 on the night, coming on the heels of a 19-point performance against Stevenson Friday.

Ford (14), DeAndre Mitchell (7), Gabe Wynn (4), Dante Mitchell (4), Hesselgrave (4), JJ Johnson (3) and Desmond Bell (1) rounded out the scorers.

The missing point? We’ll never know, but hey, when you win, who cares?

JV falls short:

Missing three players, including two starters, the Wolf young guns hung with Chimacum for most of the first half, but went cold in the second half, falling 68-35.

The loss dropped the JV to 2-9 overall, 0-3 in league play.

The Wolves got all of their scoring from three players, with Brian Shank leading the way with 17.

Ty Eck added 13, including three treys, while Ariah Bepler netted five.

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“We’ll take a win every day of the week!!”

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Jared Helmstadter, seen here in an earlier game, had a hug ethree-point play Friday that turned the tide for Coupeville. (John Fisken photo)

   Jared Helmstadter, seen here in an earlier game, had a huge three-point play Friday that helped turn the tide for Coupeville. (John Fisken photo)

When one team travels 525 miles round-trip for a single non-conference boys’ basketball game, you kinda hope the game is a thriller.

And that’s exactly how it worked out Friday, as the Coupeville boys held off several substantial rallies by visiting Stevenson, escaping with a 64-60 win that left virtually everyone feeling like they got their money’s worth.

The victory, the second straight for the surging Wolves, lifted them to 6-6 headed into the heart of conference play.

Coupeville, which sits in second place in the 1A Olympic League at 1-1, plays its final seven games against conference foes, starting with a trip to Chimacum Tuesday.

Friday night, though, there was no playoff pressure, just two fairly evenly matched squads going at it for 32 minutes of rock-em, sock-em action.

The Bulldogs, who hail from way down around the Washington/Oregon border, had a decent-sized rooting section with them, and they gave those fans something to scream about.

A game that featured epic runs from both teams, and wild lead changes, started as a Coupeville rout, then took a detour into the ditch for a bit.

The Wolves came out flying from the tip, with Hunter Smith and Risen Johnson combining to kick off a 9-3 opening salvo.

Smith dropped a trey off a steal and Johnson got both of his buckets slicing through the paint, leaving Bulldogs grasping at air as he slithered past them to the hoop.

But then, as quickly as it began, everything turned off for Coupeville.

Once it settled down, Stevenson fell in love with the hoop, ripping off 13 straight points on a variety of quick cuts to the basket and one gorgeous three-ball from the right side.

The Wolves finally stopped the bleeding with a pull-up jumper off of Johnson’s fingertips and a great hustle play from Jared Helmstadter.

The Coupeville senior, flying down the left side a couple of steps behind Smith on a breakaway, was perfectly positioned to snatch away a rebound when his teammate’s layup took a weird bounce and came back out of the basket.

Grabbing the ball, Helmstadter powered up and over a Bulldog for the put-back, then drained the free-throw he got for being whacked upside the head while doing so.

While that closed the gap to 16-14 after the first eight minutes, Stevenson, a very steady, fundamentally-solid team, never blinked and stretched the lead back out to seven midway through the next quarter.

Enter the rampaging bull himself, one Gabe Wynn.

Chasing a loose ball, the Wolf junior blew up his own bench, exploding through two chairs and scattering his teammates as he ended up, face-first, several rows up into the bleachers.

That play seemed to unleash Coupeville’s inner beast, as it ended the half with a game-busting 17-1 run.

Smith scored 10 of his game-high 19 during that stretch, but it was Desmond Bell’s super-long bucket from the right side with two ticks left on the clock that really knocked the air out of Stevenson.

Up nine at the half and raging with confidence, Coupeville came out aggressively in the third, stretching the margin to as much as 15 points.

But this was not a night for blow-outs.

Cue another Stevenson run from late in the third to early in the fourth, this one played to a merry 12-1 tune, and suddenly it was a four-point game once again.

Both teams dropped daggers for several minutes, Coupeville unable to pull away, its visitors not quite able to get all the way back.

A little bit of luck went a long way in the waning minutes, as the Wolves dodged what could have been a huge mistake.

Clinging to its lead, Coupeville had a player whistled for a technical foul after he slapped the court in frustration over a pro-Stevenson call by a ref.

But with Wolf fans screaming and hollering, the Bulldogs missed both free throws, then threw the ball away on the in-bounds pass, preventing them from making it a one-possession game.

CHS closed the game at the line, scoring its final six points there, and better yet, forced Stevenson to turn the ball over several times in the final two minutes, blunting any comeback hopes.

“We did what we needed to, when we needed to,” said relieved Wolf coach Anthony Smith. “We’ll take a win every day of the week.”

Coupeville spread around its scoring, with Wiley Hesselgrave hitting for 13 and Jordan Ford dropping 11 in support of Hunter Smith’s season-best performance.

Ford went for seven of his points in the crucible of the fourth quarter, including draining three free throws in the final 35 seconds.

Risen Johnson knocked down eight, Wynn swished five, Helsmstadter drilled four and JJ Johnson and Bell each added a bucket to round out the stat sheet.

Dante and DeAndre Mitchell didn’t score, but the high-flying Wolf twins were a force on the boards and injected a ton of energy into the lineup every time they stepped on the floor.

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Gut check time, men!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Gabe Wynn, seen here in an earlier game, scored five points Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

   Gabe Wynn, seen here in an earlier game, erupted for five points in a short time span Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

It could go either way.

After falling 59-45 to visiting Port Townsend Tuesday night, the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad sits on top of a precipice, and now it’s time to seize the moment and choose whether they stay up high or fully tumble down.

Tuesday’s loss was the third straight for the Wolves, as the fallout from a rocky winter break threatens to derail everything which was once going so well.

And yet, at 4-6 overall, 1-1 in conference play, Coupeville still sits snugly in second place in the 1A Olympic League.

Port Townsend is alone atop the standings at 2-0, the only wins the RedHawks have claimed in a 2-7 season, while defending league champ Chimacum and Klahowya are tied in the basement at 0-1.

Those two squads play Friday.

The Wolves, largely a team of role players, have looked very good at times this season, and always when they play as a team, each player stepping up and accepting their part in the grand scheme.

When they degenerate into 1-on-5 players and lose that cohesiveness, as they did at times against a more disciplined RedHawks squad, is when things go wrong.

“We have got to show up, especially for big games like this,” said Coupeville coach Anthony Smith. “We did not execute, at all, tonight.

“They killed us on the second chances, and we helped make them look very good,” he added. “We have three days now to decide if we’re going to come together and play as a team, play for each other.”

The Wolves, who had played in Langley the night before, came out a step behind Tuesday, falling behind 14-6 midway through the first quarter.

The killer was a six-point play, as Port Townsend hit a bucket, got the foul call, then tacked on three more free throws when the call was questionably upped to a flagrant foul, followed by a technical on the Coupeville bench for daring to ask why the call was changed.

Instead of fracturing at that moment, the Wolves used a timeout to sort things out, then ripped off nine straight points, easily their best run of the night.

Wiley Hesselgrave backed his man down for a bucket, then Gabe Wynn erupted for five points in about five seconds.

The Wolf junior hit a sweet trey from the top, then spun his defender around on the next play, slicing past him for a driving layup.

Playing aggressive defense, CHS capped the run with a steal and breakaway bucket from Jordan Ford, claiming their first lead of the night at 15-14.

Unfortunately, that would be the only time the Wolves would lead all night, as Port Townsend regained control of the game and begin to slowly inch away.

A 9-1 spurt, capped by a bucket that beat the first quarter buzzer by less than half a tick, staked the RedHawks to a 23-16 lead at the first break, and they never relinquished the lead.

Coupeville got within two again midway through the second quarter, only to see Port Townsend nail back-to-back three-balls.

One came from the right side, the other from the left, and much of the air went out of the Wolves.

Port Townsend stretched its lead to 11 after three quarters, then poured it on a bit in the fourth, going up by 18 at one point.

The Wolves found a brief bit of redemption at the very end, as JJ Johnson fed Ford for a bucket, then stole the in-bounds pass and shot through two defenders for the game’s closing basket.

Coupeville, which returns to action Saturday with a home non-conference game against Mount Vernon Christian, will use the next few days of practice to work on things like free throws (they were a weak 10 of 23 Tuesday).

One thing they did accomplish against Port Townsend was getting at least a little bit of offense from nearly every player on the roster, as nine guys scored.

Hesselgrave led the way with 11, while Ford banged home eight and Ryan Griggs dropped in six.

Wynn (5), Hunter Smith (4), Dante Mitchell (4), JJ Johnson (4), Risen Johnson (2) and DeAndre Mitchell (1) rounded out the scoring attack.

Jared Helmstadter and Desmond Bell also saw floor time for Coupeville.

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Onward and upward, Wolves!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 4, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Risen Johnson is ready to lead Coupeville into sole possession of first place in the 1A Olympic League Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

   Risen Johnson is ready to lead Coupeville into sole possession of first place in the 1A Olympic League Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

Turn the page and turn things around.

That’s what the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad will try to do Tuesday night.

The Wolves may have fallen 56-39 at South Whidbey Monday in a non-conference game, but they will have a chance to completely flip the script less than 24 hours later.

Coupeville, now 4-5, hosts Port Townsend at 7 PM Tuesday (JV 5:15) in the biggest game of the season.

With both the Wolves and RedHawks sitting at 1-0 in league play, Tuesday’s winner will claim sole possession of first place in the 1A Olympic League.

Defending league champ Chimacum and Klahowya, who are both 0-1 in conference play, will face off Friday.

Win or lose Tuesday, Coupeville will still have seven league games left.

But being in the drivers seat is always preferable.

The Wolves should have a full roster against the RedHawks, which was not the case against South Whidbey.

Two of the team’s top four scoring threats this season — Wiley Hesselgrave (#1 at 14.6 points per game) and Ryan Griggs (#4 at 5.3) — sat out against the Falcons.

Both are expected to be back on the floor against Port Townsend.

Without the duo, Coupeville got most of its scoring Monday from senior Jordan Ford, who poured in a team-high 19.

He was a consistent force from opening tip to final buzzer, tossing in four in the first, four more in the second, six in the third and five in the fourth.

JJ Johnson backed Ford up with six, hitting a pair of long treys, while Risen Johnson and DeAndre Mitchell each knocked down five.

Desmond Bell and Hunter Smith rounded out the Wolf scoring attack with a bucket apiece.

The Wolves, who were swept by their Island rivals this season, were held under 40 points for only the second time.

Both times have come against South Whidbey, which improved to 5-5.

The Falcons were led by Chase White, who went off for 26, and Lewis Pope, who chipped in with 20.

While the hosts led the entire way, the game was still close through three quarters.

South Whidbey went up 11-6 after one, stretched the lead to 28-20 at the half, then coasted to a 38-29 bulge after three. An 18-10 fourth quarter stretched the final margin out.

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We’ll take it!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Dante Mitchell was one of nine Wolves to score Friday in a 66-60 win over Concrete. (John Fisken photo)

   Dante Mitchell, back from an injury, was one of nine Wolves to score Friday in a 66-60 win over Concrete. (John Fisken photo)

In the end, no matter how you got there, a win is a win.

And Friday night’s victory for the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad, whether it was perfect or not, was a huge milestone of a win.

You can dwell on how the Wolves almost gave away a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter, or you can focus on the fact they held on to nip visiting Concrete 66-60.

In that scenario, Coupeville is currently celebrating a third straight win and, at 4-3, is over .500 for the first time ever under fifth-year coach Anthony Smith.

Plus, with the return of injured players Hunter Smith and Dante Mitchell and the debut of transfer JJ Johnson, the Wolves finally have a full, healthy 11-player roster and nearly two weeks to work on closing out games before they take the court again.

With winter break, Coupeville doesn’t return to action until Dec. 30, when it hosts La Conner.

After that, eight of their final 11 regular season games will be against 1A Olympic League teams.

The Wolves, at 1-0, are currently tied with Port Townsend atop the league standings.

Facing off with a non-conference foe in Concrete which had no players over six-foot-tall, Coupeville came out aggressively and took control of the game in the early going.

A trey from the left side off the fingertips of junior guard Gabe Wynn staked the Wolves to their first lead at 5-4, and they controlled the flow.

With seven different players getting into the scoring column in the opening quarter, led by Wynn with five, Coupeville bolted out to a 17-10 lead that could have been much larger.

Despite missing a flurry of shots, the Wolves dominated the boards and continued to fire away, closing the quarter on a 10-4 run in which five different players banged home a bucket.

Their early shooting woes finally hurt them to start the second, as Concrete opened the quarter on a 9-0 tear to reclaim the lead at 19-17.

That seemed to flip a switch down deep in the Wolves, as they responded immediately and with great fury.

Hunter Smith, playing in only his second game of the season after missing the last five with a back injury, dropped a dagger of a three-ball to snatch the lead right back.

With their sophomore sensation pouring in eight in the quarter, Coupeville closed the half on a 19-10 surge.

Up 36-29 at the break, the Wolves erupted out of the locker room seemingly intent on thoroughly crushing Concrete.

With Wiley Hesselgrave hitting from everywhere — he knocked down two treys en route to 10 in the third — and Risen Johnson dishing the ball left and right, always finding the open man at the very last second, Coupeville blew the lead out to 21 late in the quarter.

But just as the Lions seemed done, they began to creep back into the game.

And I do mean creep, as they used eight consecutive free throws to start a “run” that slowly, ever so slowly, drew them back into the contest.

Coupeville got just enough down the stretch — a hard charge down the sideline from Hesselgrave, who spun his defender around as he zipped past him for a layup and a soft, sweet turnaround jumper from DeAndre Mitchell — to keep the lead from totally evaporating.

Still, there were times when they gave their coach more angina than expected, as the lead dropped from 19 to five in the waning seconds.

Finally, after Jordan Ford slid a final free-throw through the twine to set the final score, Anthony Smith could fully relax and enjoy the moment.

“A win is a win is a win. I’ll take it,” he said with a huge smile. “Now we’ve got some time to clean things up, fix what’s not working and continue doing what is working.”

Anthony Smith praised the play of Mitchell (“he gave us hustle and energy and was a true spark for us at different times”), Ford (“played tenacious, as always”) and Hunter Smith (“played well, good to get him back.”)

As they have done in almost every game this season, the Wolves had a very balanced scoring attack.

Hesselgrave regained the season scoring lead with a 16-point night, while Ford banged away for 13 and Wynn and Hunter Smith each hit for 10.

DeAndre Mitchell added seven, while Dante Mitchell (4), Jared Helmstadter (2), Ryan Griggs (2) and Risen Johnson (2) rounded out the scorers.

Desmond Bell and JJ Johnson didn’t score, but both brought high energy to the floor during their shifts.

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