Photos
With Capital having been out of action for seven days, the Cougars played less than perfect but still came away with a 58-49 boys basketball victory over Scappoose (Ore.) on Wednesday night in the first Capital Holiday Classic.
In Wednesday’s first game, Bremerton edged Seaside (Ore.), 49-45. The four-team tournament concludes today with Bremerton and Scappoose tipping off at 5:15 p.m., followed by Capital and Seaside at 7 p.m.
“It was a good game for us,” Capital coach Doug Galloway said. “To play a good team and come out with a win is a positive for us,”
After what was a solid first-half performance on offense and defense for Capital, it was a back-and-fourth game in the final 5 minutes. Scappoose (4-4), a Class 4A school in Oregon, trailed the majority of the game but used clutch shooting in the fourth quarter to take its first lead at 45-44 on Joe Nelson’s jumper. Scappoose’s previous lead was 6-5 after starting off the game with back-to-back 3-pointers. But Capital countered with 18 consecutive points to end the first quarter with an 18-6 lead.
Cody Stutzer increased the Indians’ lead to 47-44 with 1 minute, 32 seconds left, but a key steal and lay-in by Alex Smith and a rebound and putback by Mat Cox gave Capital the lead for good at 48-47 with 35.7 seconds.
Capital then put the game away at the free-throw line.
Another positive to the victory that Galloway noted was how his players could step up late in the game.
Capital senior guard Colin Bossio, who finished with a game-high 17 points, fouled out with 3:13 left in the game.
Luke Olson came in for Bossio and scored six of his 12 points in the final 3 minutes.
“It was nice to see the kids come in and play well, and figure out how to get it done,” Galloway said.
Scappoose trailed by as many as 12 points on a few occasions in the game but stayed close thanks to its 3-point shooting. The Indians, who trailed 28-22 at halftime, converted seven 3s, compared with Capital’s one.
Stutzer came into the game averaging a team-best 14.1 points per game for the Indians but was held scoreless in the first half. He scored nine of his team-best 11 points in the fourth quarter.
Bremerton 49, Seaside (Ore.) 45: Tied at 45-all with 28.6 seconds left in the game, Bremerton’s Andre Coleman sank a 10-foot jumper with 3.4 seconds remaining to give the Knights a victory over the Seagulls in the tournament’s opening game.
Coleman finished with a game-high 19 points.
