Wiley Hesselgrave, seen here in an earlier game, went for 14 hard-earned points Monday. (John Fisken photo)
There was something angry about this one.
It started as a rivalry game, was close for a nanosecond, then became a rout where the team up by 30+ in the fourth quarter put its starters back on the floor in what seemed an awful lot like an effort to punish the other team.
Whatever burr under the saddle was driving visiting South Whidbey and its coaching staff Monday, the Falcons exploited their superior skills from three-point land en route to a 81-48 drilling of Coupeville.
The non-conference loss dropped the Wolves to 3-8.
Down by 10 quickly, Coupeville fought back, using a 9-2 run to open the second quarter and cut the lead to 27-25.
Ryan Griggs banged home a pair of buckets to spark the run, with Wiley Hesselgrave and Aaron Curtin chipping in with a bucket apiece.
When Gabe Wynn swished both of his free throws to slice the margin to two, the Wolves seemed on the verge of snatching the lead away.
It wasn’t to be, however, as the Falcons, led by the two-headed terror of Parker Collins (27 on the night) and Chandler Sutton (23), immediately blew the game wide open.
A 14-1 tear did the damage and South Whidbey continued to build its lead from there.
Down by 13 at the break, Coupeville came out cold to open the second half, while Collins drilled back-to-back threes from the parking lot to kick off a 12-0 run that ended any comeback hopes.
Griggs and Hesselgrave, who each went for 14, continued to bang away, with Hesselgrave suffering a series of body blows every time he made a charge at the basket.
Successfully getting South Whidbey’s big man to foul out — the Falcon smashed Hesselgrave into the floor with a resounding thunk — the Wolf junior permitted a smile to grace his face for a moment.
The fourth quarter got downright ugly, as South Whidbey seemed to be making some kind of point by leaving its starters on the floor and doing as much as possible to run up the score.
While no one is likely to say much in public, it wasn’t too hard to eyeball things from the stands and detect a whiff of anger, for whatever reason, emanating from the Falcon sideline.
The win gave the South Whidbey boys’ squad a season sweep of Coupeville, though the Wolf faithful carried The Bucket through the stands during the game, just to remind the Falcons who won this year’s football game.
Aaron Trumbull banked home seven in support of Griggs and Hesselgrave, while Matt Shank (4), Joel Walstad (3), Curtin (2), Wynn (2) and CJ Smith (2) rounded out the scoring attack.
Coupeville Sports 