Capitol City Classic becoming elite, can’t-miss tournament for boys and girls basketball teams: ‘This was the best experience I could imagine’

“We’re going to keep striving to get better and make it great for the Mid-Willamette Valley and for Oregon basketball”

They came from near. 

They came from far. 

They came to play basketball — a whole lot of basketball.

And, to cap it all off, they said they got better and that they had fun.

There were 16 high school boys basketball teams and 16 high school girls basketball teams that descended on Salem, Oregon, this past week to play in the Capitol City Classic, a tournament held at Willamette University (boys) and Corban University (girls).

“It was good. It was an A+,” Drake Powell, star guard on the Northwood Chargers (N.C.) squad, said of the tournament. “The fan base here is pretty big, and we played in a good environment. I think that will help us a lot. This tournament was great.”

That’s got to be music to the ears of Capitol City Classic tournament director and Wilsonville head coach Chris Roche.

“We’re very pleased with it,” Roche said during a rare spare moment he had during Wednesday’s action at the tournament. “I think our attendance this year will be the biggest ever. I think we’ve got the best players ever, three 5-star guys who are potential lottery picks. Two of them are in the championship game, in Tounde Yessoufou (from St. Josesph, Calif.) and Drake Powell. So, that’s been fun. A local team, Tualatin, got third, so that was great. They had to beat a nationally ranked Lincoln Park (Pa.) team to do that.”

Tualatin, the two-time defending Class 6A state champion, not only was thrilled with its third-place victory, but the Timberwolves were thrilled to be included in this year’s Capitol City Classic.

“Credit to Coach Roche for putting this on, and we’re grateful that they invited us,” Tualatin senior guard/wing AJ Noland said after the Timberwolves’ thrilling 62-60 win over Lincoln Park in the third-place contest. “Any time you get the chance to play some of the best competition in the nation, it’s going to show up at the end of the season. That’s the ultimate goal, to bring home another trophy, and playing teams like that is going to help us do it.”

“Coach Roche reached out to me, and I knew right away that we wanted to jump into this one,” Tualatin coach Bubba Lemon said. “It’s something local, it’s close to us, and Coach Roche and Jack (Roche) and all of them, they put on a fantastic tournament, and we love it.”

Tualatin got to face two top-notch out-of-state teams at the tournament. The Timberwolves were edged 73-64 in the semifinals by Northwood before they came back to tip the Leopards in the third-place thriller, thanks in part to some late-game heroics by sophomore guard Jemai Lake.

“Any time you can come here and beat a team from out of state, it feels good,” Noland said. “We knew coming in that they were a hell of a team and that we knew we had to play our butts off, and that’s what we did. It’s amazing. Each game, we keep getting better and better as a team. This is the best competition to play.”

“To play some of these really good teams for competition, we only got better. It was very impactful for us. We found out a lot about ourselves. It was good to find different puzzle pieces and see how they fit,” Lemon said. “We played against some fantastic players this week, and there were fantastic players from all over. That’s going to help us be ready for our league.”

The out-of-state teams — Lincoln Park, Northwood and St. Joseph — definitely put on a show during the week. Northwood and St. Joseph met in the championship game, with the Knights, from Santa Maria, Calif., winning the Johnny Leonard trophy with a 64-38 victory over the Chargers in the title tilt.

Sophomore guard Julius Price helped lead the way for St. Joseph, scoring a game-high 27 points with five assists in the championship game.

While he was happy with the victory, he seemed to be just as happy to have the opportunity to play in the event.

“It was great. It was great to be out here in Oregon,” Price said during the Knights’ victory celebration. “This was super fun. I’m not going to lie — it was super fun to come out here and win.”

The dynamic Yessoufou, who provided breathtaking highlight after breathtaking highlight throughout the event, also seemed grateful for the opportunity.

“I would say Oregon is a beautiful place,” he said. “The weather out here is a little chilly, but I love it. And I love to just keep having fun with my teammates. This was the best experience I could imagine.”

Northwood, out of Pittsboro, N.C., took advantage of its venture out west, taking a side trip to see the Pacific Ocean at Neskowin.

“That was pretty cool, because we’re usually just out on the East Coast,” Northwood senior point guard Fred Whitaker said. “This tournament was pretty good. It was a lot of fun. Some of the guys hadn’t been out here before.”

While the out-of-state teams enjoyed their time in Oregon, probably no one was happier with the tournament than Roche.

“This is our eighth year, and probably our best year,” he said. “And we’re coming off back-to-back really good years, with West Linn winning it last year, and that was a lot of fun. There’s been a lot of great teams in it, and we’re going to keep striving to get better and make it great for the Mid-Willamette Valley and for Oregon basketball.”

The Mid-Willamette Valley — it seems to have a pertinent place in the Capitol City Classic.

While teams such as St. Joseph, Northwood and Lincoln Park bring some added attention, it seems to be the local entries, such as Sprague, West Albany, South Salem, Silverton, North Salem, Cascade, West Salem and Woodburn, that are the heart of the event.

“The thing we’ve got to do is to just stay true to what we want to be, and that is to be very committed to the Mid-Willamette Valley, so that the teams down here, and that’s about half our field for the boys and the girls, they get a chance to play,” Roche said. “At a tournament like the Les Schwab Invitational, which is amazing, and I have great respect for everything they do, it’s more of a Portland-based tournament, and rightly so. We want to be loyal to all of these teams down here and, around that, bring in some of the best teams.”

This was the second year the Capitol City Classic has put on a girls tournament — and it seems to be already taking off.

“On the girls side, it’s growing,” Roche said. “We doubled our field. We went from eight to two eight-team pods, with a total of 16 teams.”

This year, there were two eight-team girls brackets, sponsored by Capitol Toyota.

In the Tundra Bracket, Benson topped South Medford 68-58 in a championship battle of two of Oregon’s top Class 6A teams.

“It was a great in-state tournament to build confidence and grow as a group as we prepare for the league and playoff season,” Benson coach Eric Knox said.

Benson, ranked No. 2 in the latest Class 6A coaches poll, moved to 4-0 with its three tournament wins. The Techsters are hoping the tournament experience will help them reach their lofty goals this season.

“Chemistry and continuity of our style of play is essential for our team this early in the season. We had a great experience, and we had some girls who are cornerstones of our program, like Mahogany Chandler-Roberts and Mauriana Hashemian-Orr, continue to improve and expand their game,” Knox said. “However, we have a lot of kids that never played varsity or are simply new to the program that gained valuable playing time against tough competition.”

In the Camry Bracket, Grants Pass earned a 58-45 win over South Salem in the title tilt.

“The Capitol City Classic was a great experience for our girls — the event is done very well,” Grants Pass coach Scott Wakefield said. “Playing on the road for three tough games and being able to overcome has greatly benefited our girls and team. We were very grateful to be invited.”

The Saxons seem to feel the same way.

“Playing in the CCC tournament is a blast. I love it because it is a big in-town tournament that allows us to play some different teams,” South Salem coach Adrian Lewis said. “Last year we went 0-3 in the tournament and this year we lost in the championship game in the Camry Bracket. We knew what to expect, and we were able to grow as a team. Capitol City does a great job with their hospitality and trying to promote girls basketball.”

Promoting basketball — boys and girls — certainly seems to be an ongoing priority with the Capitol City Classic.

“We feel good about it. We’re going to keep working and make this a great thing in Salem,” Roche said. “It’s a great environment, and it’s holiday hoops. You have a good time.” 

Photos by Leon Neuschwander 

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