Wolves hold Lions at bay

After receiving quite a scare at Concrete in their first meeting this season, the Coupeville boys basketball team wasn’t about to let the Lions ruin their undefeated league record at a home game.

The Wolves jumped out on the Lions early and then held on in the final eight minutes to earn a 78-63 victory against Concrete and clinch a berth in the upcoming tri-district tournament.

Coupeville had to rally from a fourth-quarter deficit on Jan. 8 to defeat the winless Lions 68-60. On Friday, the Wolves exploded to a 19-9 first-quarter lead and continued to pour it on in the second quarter, going up 36-20 at the half.

“We played well and got off to a good start,” said head coach Randy King about the win. “We shut them down and we executed well.”

The Wolves added to their lead in the third quarter before the Lions rallied behind a flurry of three-pointers in the fourth quarter. After most of the Coupeville starters went to the bench, Concrete began to inch closer behind the outside shooting of Clint Boerner and Kevin McAdam, nailing five three’s in the period. Coupeville saw a 23-point third quarter lead evaporate down to seven in the final eight minutes and King had to re-insert his starters to clinch the win.

“They were down and they decided to shoot the three,” he said. “They were rolling the dice but the shots were going down. They got rolling by making some real long shots and I had to put the cavalry back in.

“For a team that hasn’t won a game this season, they keep playing hard and don’t quit.”

Leading the way once again for the Wolves was senior post-player Chris Good who totaled 16 points on 8-for-10 shooting on the night.

“Chris should shoot that good - he’s two feet from the basket,” quipped King. “When we can get the ball to him inside he’s just too hard to stop.”

Brad Sherman added 15 points as five Wolves reached double-figures on the evening.

“We’ve got three guys who are 6-foot-plus and two sharpshooters, hopefully you have to guard everybody,” said King about the makeup of his squad. “If we take care of the basketball we’re hard to stop.”

Before the game King and his coaching staff stressed on the team the importance of taking care of the ball. In the Wolves narrow win at Concrete the team had problems breaking the Lions full-court defensive pressure and totaled 14 turnovers in the first half. On Friday the Wolves had 14 turnovers for the game, still more than King would like, but a marked improvement.

“A point of emphasis was taking care of the ball,” he said. “We didn’t do that the last time up there, but we worked on it this time. You would like to keep turnovers in the single-digits, but 14 isn’t bad against a full-court press.”

With the win the Wolves became the first Northwest A team to clinch a berth in the upcoming tri-district tournament. Coupeville will be one of four Northwest A squads that will compete in the 12-team tri-district to decide who moves on to the Class A State Tournament that begins Feb. 27. Other leagues competing are the Emerald City League and the Chinook League.

The Wolves were scheduled to travel to Orcas Island yesterday to take on the second-place Vikings (results will be published in Saturday’s edition of the News-Times). With a win, Coupeville can almost clinch the Northwest A League title.

“We need some good performances but the kids are psyched for Orcas,” said King, “We’ve been looking forward to this one for a long time. We really want to get a league championship.”

The Wolves play their final home game of the season Friday night against LaConner. All nine Coupeville seniors will be recognized beforehand as they take part in their final home game.

Coupeville 78, Concrete 63

At Coupeville H.S.

Concrete – 9 11 12 31 – 63

Coupeville – 19 17 19 23 – 78

Concrete: Boerner 12, Tenninger 2, Sanchez 3, McAdam 18, Hoover 7, McCrea 5, Woodworth 2, Martin 7, Aldridge 4, Schoolland 3. Coupeville: Clark 13, Sherman 15, Van Velkinburgh 6, Meek 2, Roundy 2, Hageman 12, Callahan 12, Good 16. 3-point goals: Boerner 4, Sanchez 1, McAdam 2, Hoover 1, Clark 2, Sherman 1. JV score: Coupeville 88, Concrete 52. Records: Concrete 0-7 in league, 0-16 overall. Coupeville 7-0, 13-4.

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