Published: February 01, 2008 12:13 am      

Capital emerging as favorite in Class AAA

Capital is beginning to emerge as the team to beat in Class AAA this season.

The Cougars feature a deep bench, are developing a long-range arsenal to go with an athletic post group and play hard-nosed defense.

All that was on display Thursday night in 70-47 demolition of Veritas Christian out of Fletcher, N.C.

The Cougars ran by Veritas 10-1 to start the game and the Warriors, who sat starting point guard Jonathan Ellington for the first five minutes of the game, never got closer to six, when they trailed 30-24 at the half.

Capital (13-1) held Veritas’ 7-foot-4 Catalin Baciu, who is headed to Clemson, to zero points in the second half after he had put up 10 points and 10 boards in the opening 16 minutes.

“I thought we did a pretty good job on him,” said Capital’s Dominique Green, who was charged with guarding the big man at times in the contest. “He’s a good player, but I think because we’re fast and athletic, it gave him some problems. He had trouble getting off some shots. He is hard to keep off the boards, though.”

“We just didn’t get our big man enough touches in the second half (just two shots),” said Veritas Christian coach John Jordan, whose team was in the MSCC last year and who coached here with Statesville Christian two years ago. “You have to give Capital credit. Their kids are gritty, they fight hard and they push it into their style.”

Capital used its athletic ability to outrebound the taller Warriors 37-32.

Malik Witten and Rio Berkley led the Cougars with 16 points each. Tyrone Goard, who also guarded Baciu, had 10 rebounds to go along with eight points.

Ellington led Veritas (11-13) with 18 points. Sasa Borovnjak had 14 and Baciu 10 points and 14 rebounds.

Ellington didn’t play after breaking a team rule and Jordan said he almost didn’t make the trip.

“I thought he came in and gave us a spark,” Jordan said of Ellington, who is also one of the top classical guitarists on the East Coast and is receiving several offers from musical schools.

Despite his team’s play, you won’t get coach Carl Clark to say the Cougars are the favorites to win the state championship.

“I don’t know about that,” he said. “We want to be No. 1, that’s our goal, but as soon as these guys start thinking that they’re No. 1, we can lose everything that we’ve done. We want to try to keep them on an even keel.”

“They showed why they are the No. 2 team in West Virginia,” Jordan said. “I don’t want to see the No. 1 team.”

Green had no trouble noting where his team stands.

“I think we’re up there,” the Cougars’ big man said. “I think it all goes back to the George Washington game. It’s hard to win on The Hill and they were on fire that night (Capital’s lone loss). I think after that game we came together as a team. We’ve been playing well since then.”

The win sets up a potential meeting with Woodrow Wilson, if the Flying Eagles get by Nitro tonight in the other Coal Classic Class AAA semifinal.

“I’d like to see the place packed,” Clark said of the possible meeting. “The bottom line is, we have to keep playing well and improving.”

Green, too, would welcome a meeting with Woodrow Wilson.

“Oh, yeah, I played AAU with some of their guys — Travis Parkulo and Damien (Tunstalle),” Green said. “That would be a good matchup.”



Veritas Christian (11-13)

Catalin Baciu 4-13 2-10 10, Devon Pickering 1-7 0-0 3, Patrick Narron 0-2 0-1 0, Sasa Borovnjak 5-7 4-6 14, Andrew Kyles 0-1 0-0 0, Paschal Mensah 0-0 0-0 0, Jonathan Ellington 7-14 0-0 18, Allen Ebert 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 18-47 6-17 47.

Capital (13-1)

Tyrone Goard 2-4 4-6 8, Malik Witten 7-10 2-3 16, Rio Berkley 5-15 4-6 16, Nick Arthur 1-6 0-0 3, Tyquan Goard 3-4 2-3 8, Sam Jones 1-1 1-2 4, Ethan Smolder 1-1 0-0 2, Derek Jordan 0-0 0-0 0, Kenneth Booth 1-4 0-0 2, Dominique Green 4-7 3-6 11, Darrell McFadden 0-0 0-0 0, Dominique Ferrante 0-0 0-0 0, Tommy Gwinn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-54 16-26 70.

VC 8 16 8 15 — 47

C 16 14 14 26 — 70

Three-point goals: V: 5-17 (Pickering 1-7, Narron 0-2, Ellington 4-7, Ebert 0-1). C: 4-14 (Tyr. Goard 0-1, Berkley 2-7, Arthur 1-5, Jones 1-1). Fouled out: V: Ellington.