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Posts Tagged ‘Risen Johnson’

Sweet smell of success!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , , on December 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Wiley Hesselgrave, seen here in an earlier game, went for ?? Saturday. (John Fisken photos)

   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.

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Hot start, cold finish!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on November 30, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Hunter Smith, seen here last year, went for a team-high 12 Monday at Meridian. (John Fisken photo)

   Hunter Smith, seen here last year, went for a team-high 12 Monday at Meridian. (John Fisken photo)

For one half they were as good as they’ve ever been.

Putting together an absolutely stellar 16 minutes of ball Monday night at Meridian, the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball team carried an 11-point lead into the halftime locker room.

Unfortunately, as hot as things were in the first half, they went cold in the second, as a string of missed Wolf shots allowed the much-bigger hosts to scramble back for a 51-41 non-conference victory on opening night.

The Wolves will have a day to rest and sharpen their skill-set before they welcome Island foe South Whidbey to town Wednesday in their home opener.

Tip-off is 5:15 PM, with a Wolf/Falcon girls game to follow at 7.

If Coupeville wants to stun their arch-rivals, they’ll need to channel some of that first-half excitement.

“We played the best half of basketball in the first half that has been played under Coach (Anthony) Smith,” said Wolf assistant coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh. “We played inspired, hard-nosed, good basketball.”

After going toe-to-toe with the Trojans in the first quarter — Meridian clung to a 14-13 lead at the first break — Coupeville drilled their hosts 16-4 in the second.

The third quarter, which was the Wolves Achilles heel last year, was a different story, however.

“We missed some easy shots and they used their height to their advantage,” Van Velkinburgh said.

The Trojans jumped all over Coupeville to the tune of 22-5 in the third, before salting things away with an 11-7 mini-run in the fourth.

Despite the loss, the Wolves came away with a number of positives, led off by a balanced scoring attack.

Sophomore Hunter Smith, making his first varsity start, went for a team-high 12, hitting a pair of three-point bombs, and made off with two steals.

Seniors Wiley Hesselgrave and Risen Johnson each knocked down 11, while DeAndre Mitchell (3), Ryan Griggs (2) and Gabe Wynn (2) rounded out the scorers.

Griggs hauled down five boards and rejected three Meridian shots, Johnson had three rebounds and two steals and Dante Mitchell and Wynn added three rebounds apiece.

Jared Helmstadter and Jordan Ford also saw floor time, with Ford following in the footsteps of dad David by making his first start as a Wolf hoops player.

The JV game was cancelled because Coupeville couldn’t field enough players due to injuries and players who haven’t had enough practices to be eligible. The Wolves expect to play a JV game Wednesday.

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Every man on deck!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on November 24, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Jordan Ford (left) and Jared Helmstadter work on a defensive drill in the early days of practice. (John Fisken photo)

   Jordan Ford (left) and Jared Helmstadter work on a defensive drill in the early days of practice. (John Fisken photo)

They have speed. They have talent. They just don’t have a lot of bodies.

A combination of injuries, lack of practice time and players who chose not to return from last year or dropped off in the first week of practice this year has left the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad thin in numbers.

Of Coupeville’s 18 players, three started late and likely won’t be eligible on opening night (Monday, Nov. 30), while two others are injured.

That could mean the only way the Wolves play a JV game in the early going would be to have five guys be 32-minute men, while stealing a swing player from the varsity just to get that starting five.

The low numbers could also affect the varsity, especially if any more injuries crop up and deplete the front-line guys.

For now, at least, CHS coaches Anthony Smith and Dustin Van Velkinburgh are looking on the bright side, however.

They may not have great depth, but the guys they do have offer nothing but upside.

“If we shoot the ball well, we’ll be hard to beat,” said Smith, who is going into his fifth season as head coach. “Teams will probably play a lot of zone against us and we need to make them pay.

“If we take care of the ball, keep the turnovers down, we’ll be right in there every game.”

Coupeville is a bit undersized, with relatively few big bangers, but they do have quickness and offensive explosiveness, and will look to ride whichever player has the hot hand on a given night.

They also have experience, with eight of what’s expected to be the top ten players being seniors.

Senior Wiley Hesselgrave, a First-Team All-Conference player a year ago, is “our gun,” and the Wolves will look to exploit his toughness on both sides of the ball.

Senior Risen Johnson and sophomore Hunter Smith will handle the ball for CHS, while seniors Jared Helmstadter and Ryan Griggs and junior Gabe Wynn round out the returning varsity players.

“Gabe is our X factor,” Anthony Smith said. “With the energy he plays with, he can cause a lot of havoc for us.”

Seniors DeAndre Mitchell, Desmond Bell and Dante Mitchell slide up from last year’s JV team, while the real X factor might be senior Jordan Ford.

A transfer who can claim long athletic bloodlines in Coupeville, the bearded one was an immediate hit during football season, where he was a solid two-way player.

Now Ford will take his game to the hardwood, where he’s expected to join Griggs as the team’s only real inside players.

Also fighting for positions are senior Beauman Davis, junior Brian Shank, sophomores Luke Merriman, Ariah Bepler, Hunter Downes (who may have suffered a season-ending injury Tuesday) and Cameron Toomey-Stout and freshmen Gabe Eck and Ty Eck.

However the roster ends up shaking out, Coupeville will look to continue heading back upwards in the standings.

After a winless first season under Anthony Smith, when the new coach inherited virtually an all-freshman roster, the Wolves have increased their win total in each of the last three seasons.

Last year they went 7-13 overall, 3-6 in 1A Olympic League play.

A number of their losses were close ones, and one of the wins came against Chimacum, the eventual league champs.

The Cowboys and league mate Klahowya had senior-dominated rosters last year, so their turnover could mean good things for Port Townsend and Coupeville.

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The gym requests your presence!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on November 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Gabe

Gabe Wynn fires from behind the arc. (John Fisken photo)

opne gym

   A pack of Wolf girls pauses for a moment during a recent open gym. (Amy Briscoe photo)

Risen Johnson

Risen Johnson gets ready to rumble. (John Fisken photo)

Can you hear it?

Shoes squeaking on the floor? Leather slapping against hardwood?

It’s the sound of basketball, and it’s picking up momentum every day.

The first day of practice for Coupeville High School is Monday, Nov. 16, just six short days away.

Already though, potential Wolf hoops hotshots have been showing up for informal open gyms and beginning work on fine-tuning their games.

Established stars. Young guns with something to prove. They’re all out there, making a name for themselves.

And, there’s still time to show up for an open gym if you haven’t already.

There’s one Tuesday night from 4:30-6:00 and one Wednesday from 3-5.

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He has Risen!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Happy birthday, tagged , , , , on June 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Risen Johnson floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee. (John Fisken photos)

Risen Johnson floats like a butterfly, yet stings like a bee. (John Fisken photos)

Johnson and Luke Merriman have a fashion-off.

Johnson and Luke Merriman have a fashion-off.

He was like a bolt of pure energy.

When Risen Johnson took the floor this year — his first as a basketball player at Coupeville High School after transferring to Cow Town — he was a one-man whirlwind.

Dipping and diving through the air, always guaranteed to put a little extra mustard on everything, Risen was worth the price of admission.

If I actually paid to get in, that is…

And let’s take a huge moment to thank the fine folks at CHS who DON’T charge me to cover games. May that continue.

But anyway, back to my first point.

Risen, who celebrates a birthday today, was pure fun to watch.

Sure, he flew wild sometimes, but that was part of the thrill.

He’s a young player, still fairly new to the sport, and he’s fine-tuning his skill set.

What he has is undeniable speed and hops and a penchant for throwing up highlight reel-worthy plays from time to time.

Every time Risen touched the ball you never quite knew what was coming next.

Like I said, fun.

So let’s take a moment to thank him for the thrills, wish him a great birthday and look forward to all the new moves he’s probably busy working on right now.

We are all witnesses, Risen. Bring it on.

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