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Wolves finish with a flourish!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , on December 13, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Nick Guay sizes up a free throw Thursday during the CMS boys hoops season finale. (Morgan White photos)

Andrew Williams gets ready to rocket a pass cross-court.

Noted ball-hawk Cole White lunges for the steal.

You always want to end the season on a positive.

Regardless of your final record, if you can exit on a high note – be it a big win, a highly-competitive loss or just overall improved play, it has a strong chance to carry over to future seasons.

So consider Thursday night a roaring success for the three Coupeville Middle School boys hoops teams, which all closed with a bang against visiting Granite Falls.

How it played out:

 

7th grade varsity:

The most successful Wolf team provided the biggest finale moment, using a 19-7 run in the fourth quarter to smash open a nail-biter and run away with a 43-28 win.

The victory, the second-straight for Coupeville’s young guns, lifts their final record to 4-6.

The game was a tightly-played, and low-scoring, affair through the first two quarters, with the visitors clinging to a 10-9 lead at the half.

Things took a change after the break, however, as the Wolves started to knock down shots from behind the arc, picked up the pace, and threw the Tigers back on their heels.

A 15-11 surge in the third quarter, fueled by a pair of three-balls from Ryan Blouin, plus treys off the fingertips of Cole White and Nick Guay, changed the entire flow of the game.

Once it had the lead, CMS didn’t let up, pouring on the offense in a torrid fourth quarter.

The Wolves got all their points in the final frame from three players – Logan Downes, who banked in eight, Guay, who popped for seven, and Blouin, who kicked in four.

The buckets were set up by Coupeville’s stingy defense, with White making off with three straight steals and Zane Oldenstadt dominating his rival big men in the paint.

“Boys played well tonight!,” said Wolf coach Greg White. “It was a tight game until the fourth.

“Zane played great defense on their giant post – it was a true team effort tonight,” he added. “It was a fun one to end on!”

Downes paced the Wolves with 14 points, while Blouin and Guay had season-highs, swishing home 13 and 10, respectively.

White and William Davidson added three apiece, while Oldenstadt and Mikey Robinett were rock-solid on defense.

 

7th grade JV:

Coupeville’s least-experienced squad didn’t get the game win, but they did score several moral victories.

First, after falling behind 14-0 at the end of the first quarter, the Wolves rallied to win a 4-3 battle in the second, and final, frame.

Also, Alex Clark netted his first bucket of the season, a big moment for both the player, and his coach.

“Alex had a huge smile!,” Greg White said. “Justin (Wilkinson) and Andrew (Williams) also played really tough defense.

“Even though our scoring was limited, I thought it was a much better showing for our JV squad.”

Robinett tossed in Coupeville’s other basket, while Quinten Pilgrim, Timothy Nitta and Chris Villarreal all saw floor time.

 

8th grade varsity:

Playing their final middle school game, the Wolves came dangerously close to nabbing a season-closing win.

But, in the end, Granite Falls escaped with a 24-23 triumph, leaving Coupeville to finish 1-9 on the season.

The Wolves had one of their strongest performances of the season at the free-throw line, with four players combining to net eight shots at the charity stripe.

Alex Wasik, who showed tremendous growth as a player from game one to game 10, led the Wolves with seven points, notching at least a point in every quarter.

Ty Hamilton was hot on his heels, pouring in six, while Alex Murdy flicked in five, Dominic Coffman and Mitchell Hall swished two apiece and Josh Upchurch sank a free throw.

Rounding out the roster were Kevin Partida, Levi Pulliam and Jesse Wooten.

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Buried alive!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 11, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville’s Mason Grove connected on a trio of three-balls Tuesday, but Sultan answered with 12 treys of its own in a 65-47 Turk win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Sometimes all you can do is shake your head and mutter “Dang…”

When your team plays strongly, has an early lead and then gets buried under an avalanche of three-balls, the kind of avalanche where six different rival players hit from behind the arc, there’s not much else left to do.

It was that kind of night Tuesday for the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball team, as visiting Sultan nailed 12 treys en route to a 65-47 win.

The loss, coming in the North Sound Conference opener, drops the Wolves to 0-1 in league play, 0-6 overall.

Even while losing, CHS did not play badly.

The Wolves shot out to an 8-1 lead after freshman Hawthorne Wolfe banged home back-to-back three-balls of his own.

One came during a coast-to-coast jaunt by the fab frosh, who leads his team in scoring this season, while the second was a rainbow set up by a beautifully-timed kick-out pass from deep in the paint by Ulrik Wells.

With Wells and Gavin Knoblich each slapping home a bucket of their own, and Mason Grove exploding off the bench to caress the net with his own three-ball, Coupeville led by as many as five points in the first quarter.

But what seemed like a minor slow-down, with Sultan scoring the final two buckets of the opening frame on inside moves, became something far, far worse.

The free-flowing Wolf offense on display in the game’s early moments sputtered and wheezed for a bit, as the Turks ran off the first 12 points of the second quarter.

The 16-0 surge, which crossed quarters but never slowed down, turned a five-point deficit into an 11-point lead for the visitors, and they would never relinquish the advantage.

Coupeville finally broke the dry spell on a long jumper from Jered Brown, and the Wolves scraped back to within six, but then a disturbing trend starting rearing its head.

Sultan, once it started shooting from behind the arc, rarely missed, and the Turks, time and again, used an artfully-shot three-ball to blunt every single Wolf run for the remainder of the game.

Cameron Gunderson was the primary culprit, swishing six treys as he rolled up a game-high 22 points, but nearly every one of his Turk teammates was locked-in, as well.

The third quarter was a prime example.

CHS cuts the lead to 12 off of an offensive rebound and put-back by Sean Toomey-Stout?

Bam. Bam. Back-to-back Turk three-balls.

The Wolves rebound to cut a 20-point margin back to 13 right before the end of the third quarter?

Bam. Bam. Bam. Sultan hits two treys to close the quarter and a third to open the final frame.

Coupeville’s best sustained play of the night came right after the Turks drained that three-ball to open the fourth quarter.

A 10-0 run, helped out by four free throws, Wolfe making a dash coast-to-coast for a layup and Knoblich slapping home a basket off of a steal and dish by Toomey-Stout, made things interesting.

And then, one last time … bam, bam, as the Turk three-ball express made its final stops.

“Give Sultan credit where it’s due,” said Coupeville coach Brad Sherman. “They shot the ball extremely well tonight. Extremely well.”

While CHS couldn’t match Sultan’s long-range launching (the Wolves hit six treys of their own, with Grove netting three), Coupeville held its own in other areas.

The Wolves won the turnover battle, a special point of pride for Sherman, and a young team in transition continues to grow. The 47 points were a season-high.

“We moved the ball well on offense and got good looks; I’m happy with that,” Sherman said. “I thought our offensive movement continues to improve.

“Also, as a coaching staff, we continue to be impressed with the effort and work being put in by our guys,” he added. “They’ll be here tomorrow, heads up and ready to work, and that’s huge.”

Coupeville will have some time to fine-tune things before its next league game.

The Wolves travel to Concrete Friday for a non-conference clash, then have trips to Port Townsend and Nooksack Valley ahead on the schedule.

CHS doesn’t return to league play until Jan. 4, when it travels to King’s to kick off the final nine games of the 10-game conference season.

Tuesday night the Wolves spread out their offensive load, with eight of the nine players who saw floor time scoring,

Brown singed the nets for a team-high 11 points, with Wolfe and Grove chipping in with nine apiece.

Wells (6), Toomey-Stout (5), Knoblich (4), Koa Davison (2), and Jacobi Pilgrim (1) also scored, while Dane Lucero hit the boards with intensity.

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Kellner spurs Spartan win!!

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on November 25, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville’s Kailey Kellner, here with parents Tim and Jennifer, knocked down a pair of three-balls Sunday to help D’Youville College win a basketball thriller. (Photo courtesy Kellner family)

Things are on the upswing in New York.

Coupeville grad Kailey Kellner and the D’Youville College women’s basketball team are off to a 3-2 start on the season after pulling out a 69-66 thriller Sunday against Cazenovia College.

That’s a marked turnaround from a season ago, when the Spartans finished 5-20 and claimed only one non-conference victory.

Now, D’Youville has already tripled that number, giving them a boost heading into their first round of Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference games.

During Kellner’s freshman season, the Spartans finished ninth in the 10-team league. Right now, they boast the second-best record of any team from the conference.

D’Youville will get a big test this coming Wednesday, Nov. 28, when it hosts defending league champ Hilbert, which sits at 5-2 in non-conference play.

Winning tightly-contested games, like the Spartans did Sunday, bodes well for the future, though.

The two squads went toe-to-toe, shot-to-shot, swapping razor-thin leads at every break.

D’Youville was up by a single point, 17-16, at the end of the first quarter, while Cazenovia rebounded to claim a 35-34 advantage at the half.

The Spartans poured in 22 third-quarter points, their best showing of the game, to edge ahead 56-55 heading into the fourth, then clamped down on defense to close out the win.

Kellner was a big part of the win, coming off the bench to drop a season-high seven points in 16 minutes of action.

She knocked down a pair of long three-balls, slid a key free throw through the net at the end of the second quarter and also snagged two rebounds and made off with a steal.

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“Guys fought hard!!”

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , , on January 13, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Hunter Downes was a wild man on the boards Saturday in Sultan, as the Wolves battled to the wire in a close non-conference game. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It was there, then it was gone.

After leading for much of the game Saturday, the Coupeville High School boys basketball squad went cold from the field late and paid for it, falling 54-49 at Sultan.

The non-conference defeat drops the Wolves to 4-9, but was a good test under fire for a team which now heads into the heart of Olympic League play.

CHS, which sits in a second-place tie with Klahowya at 2-1 in conference action, a game off of Port Townsend (4-1), plays three games in five days next week in a stretch which will tell much about their league title hopes.

The Wolves travel to Klahowya Tuesday, host Chimacum (0-5) Friday, then turn right back around and return to Silverdale Saturday for another match-up with the Eagles.

Facing a former Cascade Conference rival Saturday, Coupeville held its own with the Turks until a final, fateful minute and a half late in the fourth quarter.

Having used the world’s slowest 10-0 “run,” connecting on 10 consecutive free throws, the Wolves were clinging to a 44-42 lead with 2:30 to play.

Despite the fact that it hadn’t hit a field goal in nearly 11 minutes, Coupeville was where it wanted to be.

And then it all fell apart in a matter of seconds.

Give the Turks credit, as they won the game, and CHS didn’t lose it.

Sultan drained back-to-back three-balls from deep in the right corner, then added a reverse layup and three free throws, putting together an 11-0 surge to turn a nail-biter into a semi-runaway.

Hunter Smith knocked down two buckets in the final seconds, on a pull-up jumper and a long trey, but the damage was done by that point.

It was a bit of a disappointing end, after the Wolves looked so good for so long.

Dominating on the boards, with Hunter Downes crashing through the paint and cleaning the glass like a man on a mission, Coupeville escaped a low-scoring first quarter (7-4), then surged in the second.

Cameron Toomey-Stout buried a three-ball from the right side, followed by Smith notching the 700th point of his stellar career on a banker, and the Wolves were holding the Turks at bay.

Sultan got as close as a single point at 19-18, but Smith swished another jumper, before Ethan Spark drove a dagger through the heart of Turk Nation.

Collecting the ball on the right side, he faked, then pulled back and lofted a long trey, which caught all four sides of the rim (yes, a rim is round, go with it…) before flopping home.

Spark’s shot hit the bottom of the net just as the halftime buzzer sounded, sending Coupeville to the break up 24-18 and creating a buzz of dissatisfaction which rippled through the home fans.

The third quarter got off to a dramatic start, as the two teams combined to hit five straight three-balls, including two more from the locked-in Spark.

The second one pushed the Wolves up 30-21, marking their biggest lead of the game.

Enter the refs, who called everything, and I mean everything, sending both teams to the line a staggering amount of times.

That helped Sultan greatly, because the Turks, after missing all five of their free throws in the first half, suddenly got red-hot at the charity stripe.

Connecting on 9-10 freebies, including eight straight, Sultan regained the lead for the first time since it led 8-7 for three whole seconds in the first half.

Back in front 36-34 heading to the fourth, the Turks pushed the lead out to eight, before Coupeville responded with its own impressive display of free throw marksmanship.

Spark hit 6-6, while Joey Lippo and Smith each netted a pair during the Wolves 10-0 “run,” allowing them to finish 18-28 at the line on the night. Sultan went 13-21.

Smith’s late three-ball gave him a game-high 18, pushing his career total to 713. He is the 17th Wolf boy to top 700 points in the 101 years of CHS basketball.

His running mate, Spark, netted 15, which raises his season average to 11.1 points a night.

With Smith scoring at a 19.1 clip, the duo are combining to drop 30+ each game.

Lippo went off for six in support, while Toomey-Stout (5), Downes (4) and Dane Lucero (1) rounded out the scoring. Kyle Rockwell and Jered Brown also saw floor time.

Coupeville coach Brad Sherman would have preferred a win, but liked a lot of what he saw.

“Really thought we were going to pull that one out. Guys fought hard for that one,” he said. “Proud of that effort and their determination.

“Sultan shot the ball very well when they needed it and we just couldn’t respond there at the end.

“I thought our defense played well, mixing up looks and made it pretty hard on their guards at times,” Sherman added. “Boys did a nice job at the free throw line when it mattered. I love seeing that. A lot of positives heading into our next league game.”

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Welcome to the Mason Grove Experience!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 9, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Mason Grove tossed in 33 points Tuesday, with seven three-point bombs, in a narrow JV loss. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Mason Grove has solved the Port Townsend defense.

Scorching the RedHawks for a second time in as many games this season, the Coupeville sophomore rained down 33 points, and seven three-balls, Tuesday in a narrow 56-52 road loss for the Wolf JV boys.

That performance comes on the heels of a 34-point, 10-trey showcase back in mid-Dec., and Grove will get a final run at PT Jan. 26.

While the loss drops the young Wolves to 0-2 in Olympic League play, 1-9 overall, they didn’t give up without a considerable fight.

“Heart breaker! Great battle right up to the end,” said CHS coach Chris Smith. “We had a number of chances to put the game on ice but just couldn’t get it done.”

If nothing else, the Wolves were remarkably precise, scoring exactly 13 points in each of the four quarters.

“The defense ran a zone press all game and that gave us a lot of offensive opportunities,” Smith said. “Mason flat-out went off.”

Grove mixed things up, scoring 11 in the first quarter while hitting just a single three-ball.

After that, he added nine, seven and six going forward, with his most productive stretch from behind the arc coming in the second quarter, when he rained down a trio of treys.

Ulrik Wells backed him up, banging down low for six points, while Alex Jimenez (3), Koa Davison (3), Daniel Olson (3), Jacobi Pilgrim (2) and Jean Lund-Olsen (2) also scored.

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