By Angela Watts
Assistant GM, Washington D.C. Metro Area
** Live BLOG **
The 36th Annual Capital Classic — which was moved this year to Bender Arena on the campus of American University — is about to tip off the national game that features the U.S. All-Stars against the Capital All-Stars.
PHOTOS from the night’s first game have been added … more photos — plus dozens of video highlights from both games — to come!!
Capital All-Stars 129, U.S. All-Stars 98
The teams are being introduced for tonight’s final game, and these rosters are packed with players headed to Division I universities.
Let’s set the stage:
The U.S. All-Stars were introduced first and after the last player had been called they did a little impromptu posing for cameras a la the Cleveland Cavaliers, which drew a few chuckles from the now healthy crowd. Of course, the crowd’s biggest cheers were reserved for forward James Padgett from Lincoln, NY, the only player on either team who will play for Maryland next season.
The rest of the U.S.’s national roster includes New Jersey’s Paris Bennett (George Mason), Texas’ Joey Brooks (Notre Dame), New Hampshire’s Jamal Coombs-McDaniel (Connecticut), North Carolina’s C.J. Harris (Wake Forest), Tennessee’s John Jenkins (Vanderbilt), South Carolina’s Milton Jennings (Clemson), Virginia’s Lamont Jones (undecided), Virginia’s DeShawn Painter (Florida), New Jersey’s Lamar Patterson (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania’s rDalton Pepper (West Virginia) and Virginia’s Cadarian Raines (Virginia Tech).
The more local Capital All-Stars boast a roster that includes Montrose Christian’s Isaiah Armwood (Villanova), Paul VI’s Erick Green (Virginia Tech), Riverdale Baptist’s Javorn Farrell (Massachusetts), Gonzaga’s Ian Hummer (Princeton), Springbrook’s Jamal Olasewere (undecided), Word of Life Christian Academy’s Tristan Spurlock (Virginia), St. John’s College’s Derrick Thomas (Drexel), Coolidge’s Derrick Washington (Morgan State), Landon School’s Christian Webster (Harvard), Bishop McNamara’s Rashad Whack (George Mason), Montrose Christian’s Mouphtaou Yarou (Villanova) and Bishop McNamara’s Talib Zanna (Pittsburgh).
Armwood won the Cap Classic’s 2009 dunk competition held yesterday at Gonzaga College High School, with this dunk — over seven people — that was ESPN’s top highlight of the day.
We’re almost midway through the first half of this national all-star game and the Capital squad leads, 16-11. The crowd has been anxiously awaiting a dunk that like in this game — okay, not over seven people but spectacular nontheless — and got a pretty good one a second ago from Yarou.
A nasty block by Raines, who is from Petersburg High in Richmond, drew some ooh’s and aah’s from the crowd as well. There’s another dunk — this one by Spurlock — that again excites the crowd. Capital team leads 23-11 after a three-point shot by Thomas followed the dunk.
Time out for the U.S. team, which is coached by Kevin Keatts from Hargrave Military Academy. (The Capital Coach is Gonzaga’s own Steve Turner.)
The two teams continue to trade baskets and the Captial team, which just got a pull-up jumper from Webster, hold a 31-17 advantage with 8 minutes, 27 seconds left in the first half. The U.S. squad is having trouble executing. They just had three offensive rebounds — and subsequent attempts at putbacks — on one possession and missed each.
Washington Wizards mascot G-Wiz is trying to get the crowd going during a time out. At the end of the skit when he finally stripped out of his Wizards uniform and into a pink speedo … it worked.
An Armwood jumper — followed by a dunk by Green — and the Capital team continues to lead, 35-21, with 6:40 left in the first half. The U.S. team leads the all-time series 21-11 and is coming off a 123-85 victory last year. So needless to say the underdogs are leading this one so far.
A three-pointer and a pair of free throws by Olasewere, the DigitalSports’ 2009 All-Beltway Player of the Year, and that lead is now 42-21 with less than five minutes to play in the half.
Yarou gets up for an easy layup and Armwood throws down the best dunk of the game so far and the Capital team extends its lead to 46-25.
After Armwood’s dunk a fan, sitting in the ring of seats that surrounds the floor, stood up and shouted, “Now that’s what I came to see!”
A looooong three-pointer by Thomas just before the half brought the Capital players on-the-bench to their feet. They local team hold a surprising — and commanding — 57-36 lead at half time.
G-Man and his crew, also from the Wizards, are using a trampoline to finish some high-flying dunks for the half time entertainment. I just have never gotten this. When a player can do that leaving from the floor … why is it so impressive when a trampoline is involved? I could do that. I think. Maybe. If my shoulder wasn’t separated. But still, you get my point.
The second half in underway and the Capital All-Stars show no signs of backing down. A steal and driving layup by Webster account for the first two points of the half.
Another basket by Spurlock — and a three-pointer by Jenkins on the other end — and the U.S. All-Stars take a time out, down 61-39 with 18:08 left in the game. University of Maryland standout Greivis Vasquez has made his way into the stands to watch his future teammate and he’s garnering plenty of attention from the fans.
Time out on the floor with the Capital team leading the U.S. squad, 66-43, with 15:57 to play.
The U.S. team came out of the break running a full-court, trapping press to try and muscle their way back into this game. So far, so good. The U.S. team scored the first five points after the time out to close within 66-48 at the 15-minute mark.
Yarou ends that run with a layup on the other end of the floor … and he just got up for a nasty dunk that prevented a dunk — without drawing a foul — that was well-appreciated by the crowd. Yarou is now at the line, and his two shots puts the Capital lead back at 70-48.
Since the game is at a 20-point margin, let’s talk history of this for a bit event instead. There’s a “Did you know” box in the official game program that states that a Capital Classic alum has played on each of the past seven NCAA National Championship teams. (That’s not including this year, which surely had not yet been decided when this program was printed.) But it does include the Duke team in 2001, Maryland in 2002, Syracuse in 2003, Connecticut in 2004, North Carolina in 2005, Florida in 2006 and 2207 and Kansas in 2008. Pretty impressive.
So is this group of Capital All-Stars, which now leads 81-61 with 11:19 to play.
So let’s do a little more history. Here are some of the distinguished alumni from this storied event: Carmelo Anthony (2002), Patrick Ewing (1981), Grant Hill (1990), Dwight Howard (2004), LeBron James (2003), Magic Johnson (1977), Michael Jordan (1981), Jason Kidd (1992), Moses Malone (1974), Doc Rivers (1980), Ralph Sampson (1979), Amare Stoudemire (2002), Dominique Wilkins (1979) and James Worthy (1979).
And that’s just to name a few from the list. Not bad company to keep.
Green just threw a lob pass to Spurlock for a easy dunk; Spurlock then returned the favor with a nice pass to Whack for another dunk. Capital All-Stars lead 104-82 with 6:19 to play and there is another official time out on the floor.
Yarou scores a couple more field goals — on a couple nice assists from Green — and the margin has been extended to 110-85 with 4:39 remaining.
Another big three-pointer by Thomas and a pair high-flying dunk by Armwood Olaswere and this one is over.
The Capital All-Stars defeat the U.S. All-Stars by a whopping, 129-98 margin in the 36th annual Capital Classic.
BOX SCORE
U.S. All-Stars 36 62 — 98
Capital All-Stars 57 72 — 129
U.S. All-Stars — Jenkins 27, Jones 18, Coombs-McDaniel 9, Harris 9, Raines 9, Jennings 6, Painter 6, Bennett 5, Padgett 4, Patterson 3, Brooks 2. Capital All-Stars — Yarou 20, Thomas 16, Spurlock 15, Farrell 12, Armwood 11, Olasewere 11, Green 10, Webster 9, Zanna 9, Hummer 8, Whack 6, Washington 2.
All-Tournament Team
Mouphtaou Yarou, MVP, Capital All-Stars
Rafriel Guthrie, District All-Stars
John Jenkins, U.S. All-Stars
Keith Mitchell, Suburban All-Stars
Tristan Spurlock, District All-Stars
Derrick Thomas, District All-Stars
*****************************
District All-Stars 113, Suburban All-Stars 104
As the game gets underway let’s set the rosters for both teams.
The District All-Stars include F Raven Barber of Paul VI, F Brian Freeman of The Potomac School, G Recardo Gaddy of Good Counsel, G/F Rafriel Guthrie of Cardozo, G Given Kalipinde of Espicopal, F Dartanion Lesane of Dunbar, F Andre Mattison of Collidge, G P.J. Miller of The Potomac School, G Anthony Myers of McKinley Tech, F Robert Olson of Georgetown Prep, G Marcus Rouse of DeMatha, G/F Lawrence Smith of Bishop McNamara and G/F Bryan Wilson of Riverdale Baptist.
The Suburban All-Stars include G Stephen Griffin of Paint Branch, G David Golladay of Wise, F Chase Hicks of Churchill, F Frank Holloway, Jr., of Lee, G E.J. Jenkins of T.C. Williams, F Chris Kearney of Westfield, G Lasan Kromah of Eleanor Roosevelt, G Bruce Massey of Seneca Valley, F/C Keith Mitchell of Hylton, G Dominic Morra of Lake Braddock, F Stephen Stepka of W.T. Woodson and G Percy Wood of Crossland.
The District All-Stars jumped to a quick lead, but the Suburban team has narrowed the gap to 17-15 with 14 minutes, 26 seconds remaining in the first half.
With the early, 6 p.m. start time for the night’s first game the stands have been slow to fill, but fans are finally starting to make their way into the arena.
The Suburban All-Stars, led by T.C. Williams Coach Julian King, are hustling all over the court. And the fans are taking notice. As Morra went flying out of the bounds for the second time attempting to haul in a loose ball a spectator seated behind King just yelled, “There’s that T.C. Williams defense!”
District All-Stars 27, Suburban All-Stars 25 with 11:03 to play. Make that 31-27 for the District team with 9:56 to play as the team’s head for their first time out.
Mitchell goes up-and-under for the basket and the foul to give the Suburban team its first lead of the game at 33-31 with 8:22 to play. Mitchell, the only athlete representing Prince William County, scores again to extend that lead to 37-33. Mitchell had a team-high 10 points at the moment.
A steal by Morra and a beautiful, three-quarter court pass to Wood for a layup makes it 40-34 at the 5:35 mark. The Suburban team gets the ball back on a big block by Stepka and a Wood three-pointer makes it 43-34, the largest lead of the game for either team.
District Coach Vaughn Jones of Coolidge watches as Smith lays one in to stop the Suburban team’s run and close the gap to 43-36, and another layup by Miller makes it 43-38 with less than four minutes remaining in the first half.
King calls a time out with his Suburban team leading, 43-40, with 3:54 on the clock.
Another District layup, this time by Lesane, makes it 49-43 for the Suburban team with 2:12 remaining.
A big block by Jenkins — the smallest man on the court — prevented a District dunk is the first thing that brought real life into this crowd and brought the Suburban players off-the-bench and to their feet. Jenkins, the Northern Region Player of the Year, is listed at 5-feet-10 inches, but that is an exaggerated height.
Jones takes a time out.
Gollady dunk gives the Suburban team a 55-46 lead with 1:05 remaining.
Two quick District baskets — one by Olson and another by Freeman — pulls them within 55-50 at the :25.3 mark.
Half time: Suburban All-Stars 58, District All-Stars 50. Leading scorer for the visiting Suburban team, in white uniforms, is Mitchell with 11 points. Leading scorer for the home District team is Miller with eight.
The second half is well underway — sorry, I was distracted uploading photos for your viewing pleasure. But not much has changed. The District All-Stars take a time out with 13:05 left in the game and still trailing the Suburban All-Stars, 78-67.
Make that 82-72 on a short jumper by Woods for the Suburban team and a layup by Myers for the District squad.
A nice outlet pass from Olson to Guthrie for an easy layup and the District team has closed the gap to 84-78 with less than 10 minutes to play.
The seats slowly continue to fill, but you get the feeling most of the crowd is waiting for the so-called “big game” — the U.S. All-Stars vs. the Capital All-Stars — to start. Tip off for that game is scheduled for 8 p.m. Ten of the 12 U.S. All-Stars have already committed to playing in the ACC, Big East or SEC next year.
This first game, however, has become quite entertaining itself. The District All-Stars have closed the gap with 93-91 with 5:57 to play and have possession of the ball. They also now have the lead on a three-point shot by Myers. District 94, Suburban 93. Another jump shot, this time by Barber, and it’s Coach Jones’ team with a 96-93 lead with 4:45 to go.
Smith had to settle for a pair of layups that extended the District’s lead to 104-98 with 2:55 to go — but he just missed on a high-flying dunk attempt that would have brought the house down. Even with the miss it created quite a stir.
Guthrie gets a breakaway and the District team leads 109-102 with 1:16 remaining. Another Guthrie layup makes it 111-102 with less than :40 seconds to go … and this one is all but over.
BOX SCORE
Suburban All-Stars 58 46 — 104
District All-Stars 50 63 — 113
Suburban All-Stars — Mitchell 17, Holloway 16, Jenkins 13, Griffin 10, Massey 9, Morra 8, Woods 7, Kearney 6, Kromah 6, Stepka 6, Golladay 4, Hicks 2. District All-Stars — Guthrie 17, Miller 14, Smith 14, Myers 11, Freeman 10, Lesane 10, Kallipende 8, Wilson 8, Mattison 7, Rouse 6, Barber 4, Gaddy 2, Olson 2.
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