COUPEVILLE — Right now, the Archbishop Thomas Murphy boys basketball team is hoping that the “fat lady” has laryngitis.
The Wildcats aren’t asking for a miracle, just one more chance.
As a result of a rousing 70-64 victory over Coupeville Feb. 7, the Wildcats returned to the “Wolf Den” for one more game. The stakes were much higher this time: the Wildcats were there to use the Whidbey Island school as a neutral venue for a playoff game against Orcas Island.
The winner would receive the second seed in the Northwest A League playoff picture. The loser has to play a loser-out game at King’s against a yet-to-be determined opponent.
Orcas Island claimed the No. 2 seed with a 62-44 victory. After the first quarter, it was clear that the Vikings came with heavy artillery. A 27-11 lead, fueled primarily by six 3-point shots, put the Wildcats in a very difficult position.
“They jumped out on us and got six of eight 3-point shots at the start of the quarter,” Archbishop Murphy coach Jerry Zander said. “I don’t know if it was nerves for our guys, because this was their first time in the playoffs.
“I kept telling them that we just had to chip away at them – there’s no such thing as a 10-pointer – just chip away.”
And chip they did. Faced with a 16-point deficit, the Wildcats were able to reduce the Viking lead to 13 by the end of the second quarter, with a halftime score of 35-22. They peeled another three off in the third quarter entering the fourth trailing just 45-35.
Things looked promising for the Wildcats. Momentum seemed to be on their side.
Despite a key-clogging Orcas defense, Archbishop Murphy looked like they might pull it off. In the fourth quarter, steals, fast breaks and strong defense got them within six.
And then the fouls started.
“We thought we were going to win. We just started fouling,” junior forward Jevon Butler said. “They just hit their free throws and the lead got bigger and bigger.”
Tight ball control and Wildcat fouls led to a fourth quarter breakdown, and resulted in the loss.
“They just came out pumping the threes, came out with fire under them,” junior forward Wes Taylor said. “It took us a while to warm up.
“We have to come out stronger, we can’t let the other team do it.”
Butler, who finished the game with 12 points, had to deal with the pressure of being a go-to guy for the second game in a row.
It seems that Orcas has a new respect for Taylor, and showed it by keeping him double-teamed throughout most of the game.
“They wanted to take the ball away from Wes,” Zander said. “That’ll happen when you go and get a couple 20-point games.
“The difference between tonight and Friday is that when Coupeville took away Wes, we had other guys making shots. Tonight things didn’t fall for us.”
Taylor, who was held to just eight points on Tuesday and nine last Friday, took it all in stride, albeit begrudgingly.
“It’s frustrating, you think about how it must make them feel good to know they’re doing that,” Taylor said. “It just tells me I need to be better.”
With Taylor’s gun out of the game, the monumental task of bucket delivery fell to Butler and Luke Hagel. Both tried to carry the mantle, but fell short, often drowning in a sea of blue jerseys.
“People have just got to step up,” Hagel said. “Guys aren’t stepping up right now. We’ll get them in the next game. We just weren’t hitting open shots.”
Hagel was the number two Wildcat scorer with 10 points.
“When you play three games in a row against someone, it’s not going to be about a game plan,” Hagel said. “It’s going to be about playing your best.”
Defensively, Chris Mitchell finished Tuesday with 13 rebounds, with Taylor coming in with eight.
Four days earlier, the exact same court housed a much happier game for the Wildcats, although it started out similarly.
Coupeville jumped out on the Wildcats with a 24-16 first quarter lead. By the end of the half, Archbishop Murphy was able to pull within one point with a 33-32 halftime score.
In the third quarter the Wildcats outscored Coupeville 17-16 for a 50-48 lead. In the fourth, Coupeville fouls put Archbishop Murphy firmly in the lead for the rest of the game.
It seems Orcas Island isn’t the only team that has a Wes Taylor admiration society.
“(Coupeville) did a really good job of double- and triple-teaming Wes,” Zander said. “Their coach said their focus was to take Wes away.
“But that opened up the outside.”
Jensen led the Wildcats on Friday with 16 points, while Butler had 14. Hagel finished with 13 points and Mitchell had 10 points and 12 boards.
Butler also had three steals and four assists.
Coming off a loss to LaConner and a victory in Concrete, the Wildcats knew they controlled their own destiny.
“We just said we wanted to play our game,” Butler said. “We knew we had to keep focused and not make many mistakes.”
Despite the loss, the Wildcats are not willing to throw in the towel just yet. This weekend, Zander and his crew have at least one more shot at the big time, and they have faith they can pull it off.
“It’ll be a tough game,” Butler said. “Chinook League’s a good league and all.
“We’ll need to play our hearts out.”
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