Wiley Hesselgrave | Coupeville Sports

Posts Tagged ‘Wiley Hesselgrave’

Heartbreaking? Yes! Season-ending? Never!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Dalton Martin, Klahowya, Wiley Hesselgrave on December 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Aaron Trumbull splits the defenders for two of his team-high 13 Friday. (John Fisken photos)

Freshman phenom Hunter Smith sparked the Wolf JV squad to its first win of the season.

It was a tough one. No doubt.

But now the question becomes, what do you do with the anger and frustration. Do you use it to fuel you as you go forward, or does it kill your season?

Anthony Smith believes it will fuel his squad.

“The guys are mad, but it’s a good mad,” Smith said. “We go in, work hard and get back at it. We take the positives and learn from them.”

Playing their first-ever 1A Olympic League contest Friday night, Smith’s Coupeville High School boys’ basketball team came agonizingly close to a win. Emphasis on the agony.

Two missed free throws by the Wolves in a tie game with 17 seconds to play opened the door for visiting Klahowya to escape with a 57-55 win.

The Eagles (1-4 overall, 1-0 in league play) took advantage of the misses and scored a game-busting layup with less than two ticks on the clock. Coupeville (1-5, 0-1) had a final shot, but it fell short.

Now the Wolves will have a week of practice to fine-tune their fury and bring it to a positive boil before they travel to Orcas Island for a non-conference game Dec. 19.

CHS plays three straight non-league games before they meet Port Townsend in early Jan. for the second of their nine Olympic League games.

Friday, Coupeville went toe-to-toe with the Eagles, leading for much of the game.

Up by three at the half, they came out a bit flat in the third — a recurring trend for the Wolves — but Smith called on his reserves and they stepped up big time.

“I emptied the bench and they did their part,” Smith said. “They held things together and got us going again.”

The game was foul-strewn affair, with the teams combining to shoot 61 free throws. The one positive was that neither team had much to complain about, as both were punished fairly equally.

Klahowya hit 17 of 32 at the charity stripe, while Coupeville banged home 16 of 29.

Aaron Trumbull paced the Wolves with 13 points, while Dalton Martin poured in 10.

Joel Walstad (9), Ryan Griggs (5), Hesselgrave (4), Gabe Wynn (4), Matt Shank (4), Aaron Curtin (4) and Jared Helmstadter (2) rounded out the scoring.

It was the first varsity points for Helmstadter.

Griggs snagged six boards, while Martin pulled in three caroms, blocked three shots and made off with three steals.

JV wins first: Playing without coach Dustin Van Velkingburgh, who was on medical leave as he deals with heart issues, the young guns pulled off a 36-32 victory.

After the game, Smith and the players checked in with Coach V on speaker phone and relayed the positive news.

“It was a great one for the JV,” Smith said. “They worked hard and deserved it.”

Freshman Hunter Smith poured in 13, snagged six rebounds and made off with two assists to spark the win.

DeAndre Mitchell (9), Desmond Bell (4), Brian Shank (3), Dante Mitchell (3) and Ben Olson (2) also scored for the Wolves.

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Buckets R Us!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Makana Stone, scoring stats, Wiley Hesselgrave on December 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Hailey Hammer goes up for two of her 17 points. (John Fisken photos)

Aaron Curtin averages eight points a game, second best on the Wolf boys’ squad.

Makana Stone has the sweet scoring touch.

The junior leads all Coupeville High School basketball players in dropping in buckets thus far in the 2014-2015 season, and by a comfortable margin.

Through four games, she’s one slim point from having a 15.0 per game average, while the closest to her is Wiley Hesselgrave, who’s a point shy of pouring in nine a game.

Complete (unofficial) varsity scoring stats for the Wolves:

GIRLS (2-2):

Makana Stone — 59
Monica Vidoni — 25
Julia Myers — 21
Kacie Kiel — 20
Wynter Thorne — 19
Hailey Hammer — 17
Mia Littlejohn — 16
McKenzie Bailey — 10
Madeline Strasburg — 2

BOYS (1-4):

Wiley Hesselgrave — 44
Aaron Curtin — 40
Joel Walstad — 32
Ryan Griggs — 26
Risen Johnson — 23
Dalton Martin — 23
Aaron Trumbull — 23
CJ Smith — 15
Matt Shank — 12
Gabe Wynn — 6

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Don’t go in the locker room! Ever!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged Aaron Curtin, Basketball, Bellevue Christian, CHS Wolves, Wiley Hesselgrave on December 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Ryan Griggs, workin’ hard in the paint. (John Fisken photos)

Aaron Curtin flies up the court, on his way to scoring two of his team-high 13.

Continuing a disturbing trend from recent seasons, the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad stumbled, badly, in the third quarter Saturday and it cost them dearly.

Outscored 21-7 in the first eight minutes after the break, the Wolves saw a close game slip out of their grasp and suffered an 80-50 beating at the hands of non-conference foe Bellevue Christian.

The loss, coming less than 24 hours after a fired-up CHS squad ran Darrington off the same floor for four quarters, dropped the Wolves to 1-3.

Coupeville travels to Mount Baker Monday for another non-conference tilt, before playing its first game in the new 1A Olympic League Friday, Dec. 12, when Klahowya comes to Whidbey.

As in all their losses this season, the Wolves came out strongly. Getting fired-up to tip-off is not a problem for CHS.

Aaron Curtin led the way, pouring in seven in the first quarter with a variety of moves.

Coupeville led in the early going, then, after briefly hitting a rough patch, rebounded sharply on a three-point bomb from Wiley Hesselgrave and a bucket off a nice inside cut by Ryan Griggs.

Bellevue, which was much, much quicker than their hosts, tried to break the game open, but the Wolves refused to fold in the first half.

The highlight was a 6-2 run in which Curtin ripped a rebound free, then forcibly bull-rushed his way through three defenders for a put-back.

The third quarter started OK, for half a second, with Joel Walstad netting a free throw and Hesselgrave slicing inside for a bucket.

But then things fell apart completely and the refs decided to stretch the game out with an endless series of ticky-tacky foul calls.

As the two teams plodded through a fourth quarter that took an eternity with a never-ending parade to the free throw line, even the hardiest of fans began to curse the never-comfortable bleachers.

The oblivious refs, having just discovered that those shiny whistles clamped between their teeth made a pleasing (to them) noise when tooted, had little mercy.

In the end, Hesselgrave (before fouling out thanks to some seriously silly foul calls by the overly-sensitive refs) and Curtin paced the Wolves with 13 apiece.

Aaron Trumbull banked in eight, Griggs and Walstad netted five each, Dalton Martin swished three, Risen Johnson popped for two and CJ Smith tickled the twines for a free throw.

JV stays close: The Wolves played straight up with BC for three quarters before falling a bit short in the third quarter, dropping their record to 0-3.

Brian Shank was a bright, shining star, however, swishing all three of his long-range bombs from three-point land.

No other stats were available.

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Smooth start, rough finish!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged Aaron Trumbull, Basketball, CHS Wolves, Meridian, Wiley Hesselgrave on December 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Wiley Hesselgrave, shown here putting in conditioning work, scored a team-high 13 Monday night. (John Fisken photo)

“I did not see this coming.”

Coupeville High School boys’ basketball coach Anthony Smith was a bit perplexed after his squad absorbed a 68-35 loss to visiting Meridian in its season opener Monday night.

While the Trojans had a height advantage on their hosts, the Wolves had played strongly against schools that stacked up with Meridian during the summer.

And, for one quarter and a few minutes of another, CHS looked very competitive, even with no real way to counter Meridian’s big bangers in the paint.

But a quick start evaporated and turnovers began to pile up on each other, eventually short-circuiting Coupeville’s hopes.

With a squad that will play five games in the first eight days of the season — the Wolves travel to South Whidbey Tuesday — Smith and assistant coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh will get an immediate opportunity to help their players work out the opening night kinks.

“We had some stretches tonight when we quit being aggressive. We can’t have that,” Smith said. “We did well when we were aggressive.

“We need to take the good points and learn from them and take the bad points and do the same and get back after it.”

The Wolves, led by Wiley Hesselgrave, came out on fire.

The junior, a star linebacker who often plays basketball like he’s still wearing pads and a helmet, tore through the Meridian defense, scoring Coupeville’s first nine points.

He snagged a loose ball and turned it into a layup, swished a sweet pull-up jumper, then crashed the boards hard, snagging a rebound off of a missed shot by Aaron Curtin and putting it back up and in.

Not ready to stop there, he then drained a fade-away three-point bomb from the left side, staking the Wolves to an early 9-4 lead.

Meridian, mixing speed with their height, fought back, but the first quarter was about as evenly played as possible.

Hesselgrave hit for two more on a nifty shake ‘n bake move that tore a Trojan defender out of his high tops, giving him 11 in the quarter, while Aaron Trumbull, Joel Walstad and CJ Smith all added two points apiece.

Smith’s bucket, on a driving layup two ticks of the clock before the quarter-ending buzzer, pulled CHS back to within 20-17 and it looked like it would be an evening-long battle.

But then things took a sudden detour for Coupeville.

Shots that had been going in started popping out, Hesselgrave went scoreless for two quarters and, once they had their foot on the gas, the Trojans jammed the pedal through the floor.

A brief five-point spurt (a basket and free throw from Walstad and a short jumper from Curtin) trimmed Meridian’s lead to 27-22, before the game fell apart.

Over the next quarter and a half, Meridian went on a 29-3 tear, turning a closely-played contest into a rout. In the blink of an eye — and a never-ending string of layups — Coupeville fell behind 56-25.

The Wolf offense that had been so effective in the first quarter, scoring 17 points in eight minutes, only scored 18 more in the final 24 minutes of play.

Hesselgrave added a bucket in the game’s final seconds to lift his team-high scoring output to 13, while Trumbull added six and Walstad banged away for five.

Smith and Matt Shank each tacked on four, Curtin hit for two and Risen Johnson netted a free throw to round out the scoring attack.

Ryan Griggs, Gabe Wynn and freshman Hunter Smith all saw playing time as well.

JV falls: In the night’s opening game, the Wolves hit five three-point bombs, but could do little else offensively and fell 62-19.

Coupeville actually stayed close in the early going, pulling within seven at 18-11 midway through the second quarter after DeAndre Mitchell sliced through the Trojan defense for a quick bucket.

Unfortunately, the Wolves wouldn’t score again until Desmond Bell nailed a trey several minutes into the fourth quarter.

At that point, Meridian had run off 33 consecutive points, including a flawless 22-0 third quarter.

Bell paced Coupeville with six points, while DeAndre Mitchell added five. Cameron Toomey-Stout and Dante Mitchell each hit a three-pointer and Hunter Smith tossed in a layup.

Brian Shank, Nick Etzell, James Vidoni, Beauman Davis and Joey Lippo also saw court time, with Lippo starting.

The night’s biggest cheer from the crowd, in either game, came when Toomey-Stout, who is listed at five-foot-one in the program, went airborne and spiked a Meridian shot into the stands.

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Wanted: one championship banner!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged 1A Olympic League, Aaron Trumbull, Basketball, CHS Wolves, Matt Shank, Wiley Hesselgrave on November 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Joel Walstad is one of four seniors on this year's Wolf hoops squad. (John Fisken photos)

Fresh off an outstanding football season, Joel Walstad is one of four seniors who will lead this year’s Wolf hoops squad. (John Fisken photos)

Ryan Griggs drives on Matt Shank.

Aaron Trumbull has been the one constant on the varsity for the past four seasons.

Aaron Trumbull is the only Wolf who has been a varsity player in each of Anthony Smith’s four seasons as CHS coach.

“Our goal is to put a flag on the gym wall.”

As he enters his fourth year at the helm of the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad, Anthony Smith is thinking big.

Having endured three years of growth in the tough 1A/2A Cascade Conference after inheriting essentially an all-freshman team his first year, Smith sees the upcoming season as a potential breakout year for the Wolves.

Coupeville has increased its win total the past three seasons, from zero to one to three, and is leaving behind juggernauts like King’s and ATM as it opens play in the new 1A Olympic League.

Facing off with Port Townsend, Klahowya and Chimacum puts CHS on a more level playing field, and the Wolves want to return to the days of hoisting league championship banners.

And why not this season, as a reward to the seniors who have been with Smith since day one and taken their lumps to rebuild the program.

“I want it for those guys,” Smith said. “Those kids have worked hard all the way, have bought into the program we put in and have believed. They put in a solid foundation and they deserve to go out strong.”

The core of the Wolf team is comprised of three of those seniors — Aaron Trumbull, Joel Walstad and Aaron Curtin — in addition to junior Wiley Hesselgrave and senior Matt Shank, who transferred from Utah before his junior year.

Curtin is returning after taking his junior year off, but, even when he didn’t play, he showed up for every game and remained close to his teammates.

Now he’ll slide back in alongside Trumbull, who has been a rock every step of the way for four years.

The Wolves lost their biggest scorer when Anthony Bergeron graduated (they’ll also have to replace big man Nick Streubel, sweet-shooting Gavin O’ Keefe and the always-hustling Morgan Payne).

But, while Coupeville may not immediately seem to have a 20-point-a-night guy, the Wolves will be able to kill you a thousand different ways.

“We may have a different guy going every night and we’ll get that guy the ball,” Smith said. “I’m pretty excited. We came together close in the summer time, played big-time teams and we were very, very productive.”

The hallmark of the team will be defense, which should open up the offensive end of the court, as well.

“We will get after it on ‘D’, especially in the half court setting,” Smith said. “We have good athletes and we will compete.

“We have a tight-knit group on the varsity and they are taking things seriously,” he added. “There won’t be much of a drop in production when we go to the bench, and everyone has a chance to be productive.”

The core five will be backed by a mix of players all fighting for prime playing time.

Sophomore Gabe Wynn saw varsity action as a 9th grader, while junior Dalton Martin started last season on the varsity but missed most of the year with injuries. If he’s healthy, he should be a big contributor.

Junior Ryan Griggs, who played for the Wolves as a freshman before a family move to Arizona took him away for his sophomore year, is back and bigger.

Toss in junior Jared Helmstadter, who was the leading scorer on the Wolf JV a year ago, speed-demon junior CJ Smith, who is in his first full basketball season for CHS and junior Risen Johnson, a transfer from Oak Harbor, and the battle for playing time will be intense.

And don’t sleep on freshmen Hunter Smith and Ethan Spark, both tabbed as young players to watch by their coach.

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