Wiley Hesselgrave, seen here in an earlier game, went for 16 Saturday. (John Fisken photo)
Revenge and redemption and baked potatoes.
They were all on the menu Saturday night at Bellevue Christian, as the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad pulled off a stunner.
Roaring back in the second half, the Wolves made their free throws down the stretch and upended the host Vikings 53-50.
The non-conference win lifted Coupeville to 1-2 on the season and avenged a 30-point loss to the same school a season ago.
And, they did it with just seven players.
With starting guard Hunter Smith out for two weeks with a back injury, the Wolves relied heavily on their other two gunners and they responded.
Risen Johnson exploded for 17, including four free-throws in the final quarter, while Wiley Hesselgrave muscled his way to a sweet 16.
Battling Bellevue’s height advantage (Joe Lampkin, who poured in a game-high 26, is six-foot-six) and, possibly, the aroma of baked potatoes (BC’s concession stand is inside the gym, along the baseline, and spuds are on the menu), Coupeville stayed close, but trailed at the break.
Down 24-19 entering the locker room, the Wolves avoided their Achilles heel in recent years — the dreaded third quarter let-down — instead seizing the game for themselves.
Using four three-point bombs in the third to rally — two apiece from Hesselgrave and Johnson — CHS pulled even at 34 at the end of three.
Then, they held off a hostile crowd in the fourth, hitting 6 of 9 free throws and refusing to yield the lead once they had it.
Johnson (7) and Hesselgrave (6) carried the scoring load in the final quarter, while Jordan Ford and Gabe Wynn each came up big time with a bucket of their own.
Ford finished with six, while DeAndre Mitchell (5), Wynn (4), Ryan Griggs (3) and Dante Mitchell (2) rounded out the scorers.
The win sends the Wolves into an extremely favorable stretch of the schedule, as Coupeville plays eight of its next nine games on Whidbey.
CHS has seven home games and a short trip to Langley Jan. 4 for a rematch against South Whidbey during that run, with just one off-Island excursion (Dec. 11 at Klahowya) between now and Jan. 19.
JV falls:
A poor third-quarter doomed Coupeville’s young guns, as the Wolves fell 64-40 in the night’s opening game.
CHS went in at the half down by 11, but any hopes of a rebound evaporated when Bellevue took control to the tune of 18-5 to start off the second half.
Freshman Ty Eck, making his season debut, went for 11 of his team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter. He hit four bombs from three-point land in the game.
Gabe Eck and Luke Merriman added nine apiece, while Beauman Davis rattled home six and Ariah Bepler netted a bucket to round out the scoring attack.
Ty Eck had three rebounds and two steals, while Merriman hauled in three boards and dealt out four assists.
Bepler and Gabe Eck each snared three rebounds apiece.
Andre Avila and James Vidoni also saw floor time for Coupeville.
Coupeville Sports 