Coupeville boys 'dodge bullets'

"It didn’t come easy, but the Wolves will take it.Coupeville built a seven-point fourth quarter lead and weathered a feverish Darrington comeback to defeat the Loggers 52-49 Tuesday.“We dodged some bullets,” Coupeville coach Randy King said.After pulling ahead 48-41 with about three minutes to play, the Wolves turned the ball over twice and had a hard time stopping the Loggers’ 6-foot-4 post player John Fromong (20 points for the game) and Darrington forward Brandon Boyd (14 points). A Boyd layup with 2:06 to play tied the game at 48-48.But Coupeville had their own weapons. Senior Ceasar Kortuem, the top Wolves scorer for the game with 13 points, hit a jumper from 15 feet with 1:49 left to put his team back on top at 50-48.That’s when things got interesting.After a Boyd free throw made it 50-49, Darrington had the ball and a chance to take the lead with about a minute to play. The Loggers ran a play that was successful for them all game — Boyd cut quickly to the hoop from the left wing — but Coupeville’s Jason Fisher anticipated it this time and emphatically rejected Boyd’s shot.The blocked shot went out of bounds to Darrington. After a time out the Loggers worked the ball for an open 3-pointer for Todd Wright, who missed. Darrington got the rebound, and called another time out with 26 seconds left.The Loggers’ Josh Padgett tried the next Darrington shot, and missed. Darrington’s Boyd grabbed the rebound and hoisted another shot, and missed. The ball went out of bounds to Coupeville. There were 10 seconds left.On the inbounds play, the Wolves’ Ty Blouin passed to Korteum, but Darrington’s Jason Massingale intercepted it and Blouin fouled him. Massingale went to the line for a one-and-one, with a chance to tie the game or even put Darrington in the lead — but he missed. Coupeville’s Pat Bennett grabbed the rebound with eight seconds remaining and called a time out.The Wolves whittled four seconds off the clock on inbounds plays before Darrington fouled Coupeville’s Andrew Cashen for a one-and-one with four seconds left.“I knew I had to make the first one,” Cashen said.Cashen did, putting Coupeville up 51-49, but missed the second. Darrington had one more chance.When the Loggers attempted an inbounds pass with three seconds left, Kortuem picked it off and was quickly fouled. He sealed the win for the Wolves by sinking a free throw.The win moved Coupeville to 2-3 for the season and 1-0 in league heading into the Friday night contest at Concrete.“It was a big game,” Kortuem said of the Darrington win. “We needed to get off to a good start in league.”The senior guard expects bigger things to come, too.“We still haven’t played up to our potential,” he said.COUPEVILLE 52, DARRINGTON 49Darrington: Fromong 20, Boyd 14, Padget 8, Faucett 2, Wright 2, Massingle 2, Grimmer 1. Coupeville: Kortuem 13, Bennett 10, Frost 8, Fisher 7, Blouin 6, Donnellon 4, Cashen 2, Roehl 1. 3-pointers: Blouin 2, Padget 1, Boyd 1, Fisher 1, Korteum 1. JV score: Coupeville 66, Darrington 60. Darrington 11 15 13 10 — 49Coupeville 13 12 17 10 — 52"

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