Capital’s Penner is the man. And the other guys are pretty good, too

Every championship basketball team has a go-to guy — a headline-grabber who drives and dishes, hits long-distance 3-pointers and timely game-winning shots.

As Capital High School claimed a share of the Class 3A South Sound Conference championship and advanced to the state tournament at the Tacoma Dome with a 20-4 overall record, Chris Penner was that guy.

He has jumped to No. 2 on Capital’s all-time scoring list, averaged 16.7 points per game and hit a huge shot in the final seconds to beat Timberline in what turned out to be a key game in the Cougars’ claim to a first-place tie.

But, right out in plain sight, two other units of the Capital attack — forwards Grant Erickson and Brandin Riedel, as well as Penner’s running mates in a three-guard system, Gabe Landers and Olympia transfer Lucas Bowser — were quietly going about their business building the framework for victories.

Landers, who starts at point guard, summed up the team-first mentality he and his teammates strive for.

“I don’t really have a problem with being overlooked. I’m glad I have the role I have on this team,” he said. “Going into the year, with Lucas coming in, Chris and the two forces we have down low, I knew I was going to have to change my role and be the facilitator.”

The two bigs, Erickson (6-foot-6) and Riedel (6-7), are the center of Capital’s offense, which coach Brian Vandiver designs for the ball to go inside, then back out to shooters.

What they do is partially scripted, partially inspired by their knowledge of each other’s game.

“It’s a part of our play calls, but we’ve also developed a chemistry over the last couple years where, if he gets his body in a certain position, I get the ball there,” Erickson said. “He makes it really easy for me.”

That chemistry allows the pair to read and react to defenses with a minimum of deliberation.

“If there’s a big guy on Grant and a little guy on me, then we know right away to get the ball to me — or the other away around,” Riedel said.

Their interaction with Capital’s guards is just as smooth.

“It’s nice having Brandin and (Grant) down there to make me look good,” Landers said. “Passing it down low to the big men draws the double-team, and they’re the best at kicking it back out to shooters.”

Bowser, Capital’s second-leading scorer and a guy who can heat up — he made 7 of 10 3-pointers in a narrow 3A West Central/Southwest bidistrict tournament loss to Lincoln — likes the way Riedel and Erickson find the open man.

“They can score, but when they don’t score, they still help the team score,” he said. “If the ball goes in and they have single coverage, they’ll score. If they get doubled, it comes back out.”

Vandiver also counts himself lucky to have Riedel and Erickson inside.

“People don’t realize how good of an athlete Grant is. When I coached him in eighth grade (at Marshall Middle School), he ran the point for us, passed the ball then went and posted up,” Vandiver said.

“He does what we need him to do. He’s our best overall defender, the best help-side defender around. He makes up for so many sins that other guys commit because he’s there to save the play.”

Riedel still has untapped potential.

“Brandin is unique. He’s a quick jumper, he can pass the ball,” Vandiver said. “He’s just starting to realize how good he can be.”

Of course, if Capital didn’t have Penner, Bowser and Landers on the outside ready to shoot, all of the passing ability of Vandiver’s forwards would be wasted.

Vandiver describes Bowser like what a pro or college coach would call a ‘D and 3’ — a player who guards the opponent’s top scorer on defense, then looks for perimeter shots on offense.

In Saturday’s state regionals victory over Shorecrest, Bowser held the Scots’ Antonio Stillwell to just eight points — six of those on a pair of 3-pointers during a last-ditch rally that came up short.

“I’m glad the coaches have confidence enough in me to give me that job,” Bowser said. “I key in and try to lock him down. I’ve done it a few times.”

Landers draws high praise from Vandiver as well.

“Nobody has sacrificed as much of what they might have selfishly wanted to do as Gabe. He’s a program player,” Vandiver said. “He’s continued to progress, continued to be coachable. He’s come out the other side smelling like a rose. Nobody wants to win as much as Gabe.”

The players all point to a span of three games in mid-January as the turning point. The Cougars reversed the outcome of their first game with Timberline, then, after a win over North Thurston, decisively blasted Peninsula at home.

“The Peninsula game was the first time our offense really got going,” Landers said. “Everyone was talking, everyone was moving. There was such a different feeling in the locker room afterward.”

Now the Cougars are on the verge of experience the feeling they’ve played for since the start — walking out onto the floor at the Tacoma Dome.

Erickson and Penner are the only Capital players remaining from the squad that lost a narrow loser-out game to Wilson during Capital’s last trip to the tournament site in 2017.

Wednesday night, they face a loser-out game again, at 9 p.m. against West Seattle.

“My first thought is how big it was. The stands are so huge. At the beginning you make the moment too big,” Erickson recalled. “The first team that decides it’s just a basketball game is the team that ends up winning it.”

Riedel and Landers didn’t get to play, but both were there and caught some inspiration from the moment.

“I was on the practice squad, so I got to sit on the bench,” Riedel said. “It was an amazing experience. I knew I wanted to get back there and play.”

Landers was a junior varsity player, and sat in the stands to watch his older brother Dawson play.

“I realized the program I was in that had excelled to that level,” he said. “My goal from the start of this year as the starting point guard was to bring this team together, get the chemistry going that got us back to that Dome. We didn’t want to end the season anywhere else.”