Capitano’s focus pays off for Episcopal Academy

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NEWTOWN SQUARE >> The pendulum had swung back and forth in the final 10 minutes Friday afternoon, from a 12-point Episcopal Academy lead to a three-point edge for Abraham Lincoln High School. So when the Churchmen pushed the ball up the floor in the waning seconds of a tie game, Alex Capitano knew to be ready.

For quite what, he wasn’t exactly sure. But when Jack O’Reilly’s missed layup found him on the weak-side glass, he figured it out in a hurry.

The sophomore wing cleaned up the mess with the hoop and a foul, scoring the final three decisive points in a 69-66 nonleague win for EA, capping a wild and not always well-played affair marred by turnovers, fouls and a little late intrigue.

Episcopal (6-5) didn’t hesitate when Travis Coleman, fresh off the bench, canned a 3-pointer off an inbounds pass with 18 seconds left, knotting the game at 66. They pushed the ball up the court, and O’Reilly hit backboard and nothing else under duress from the low blocks to the right of the rim. In swooped Capitano from the left to corral the board and go straight back up, getting hit on the arm by Jahi Randall in the process for the and-1.

“Our assistant coaches were telling me the whole game, ‘just stay focused, stay focused, be ready for something to happen,’” Capitano said. “So when (O’Reilly) took that layup, I thought he was going to make it, but just in case, I was there to rebound it and put it back in. I just had to stay focused and make that shot.”

A last-second heave by Shikier Morrison with eight-tenths of a second left was blocked by Matt Dade, helping the Churchmen escape with the win.

Capitano finished with a game-high 23 points, restoring his dynamic partnership with Dade after both had missed time with injuries. Dade added 22 points and led the Churchmen in the other four statistical categories: Rebounds (six), assists (four), steals (two) and blocks (three).

The calmness with which EA handled its final possession belied the erratic nature of the previous 31-plus minutes. It coughed up 22 turnovers in the face of Lincoln’s full-court pressure, and while 11 Lincoln steals certainly contributed, too many mistakes by a youthful backcourt were unforced.

“We try to focus on defense,” Randall said. “We think that defense wins game, and we thought the pressure kind of startled them a little bit, and that would make it easier for us. It kind of worked, we just didn’t finish the game out.”

Those turnovers led EA to squander an eight-point lead early in the third quarter, six straight turnovers helped Lincoln (4-2) climb back in with a 6-0 run. EA then embarked on a 15-4 spurt that grew the lead to its largest at 52-39 when Justin Hershey hit the third of his 3-pointers in the final minute of the frame.

Lincoln answered with a 9-2 outburst before EA stretched the lead to 10 at 56-46 early in the fourth, but then Lincoln turned up the offense again. That 13-0 run, which included four turnovers and three missed EA free throws, pulled Lincoln in front, 59-56, with four minutes to play.

As they went back and forth, EA always found an answer. Capitano laid one in off a Dade steal and outlet pass, then Dade picked a pocket and slammed home to put EA up, 60-59. The pair made their free throws late and provided calm with the ball to keep Lincoln from creeping back in.

“They’re a really quick team, really athletic team,” Capitano said. “And we’ve been playing against a lot of those in this early season before the league starts. In practice, we’ve got to drill that press offense. We’re a young team. We’re still trying to work out the kinks on that press offense. The turnovers are killing us, but we were up by 13 and kind of blew that a little. But we stayed focused.”

Capitano’s late second-chance points notwithstanding, the Rail Splitters dominated EA on the boards with a 37-27 edge. The result was 15 more shot attempts, but a 36.2 shooting percentage (25-for-69) prevented that from paying off.

“I think we didn’t get the finish at the basket today,” said Randall, who scored 15 points. “That’s what really hurt us.”

Emeul Charleston led Lincoln with 16 points, including two fourth-quarter 3-pointers after the Rail Splitters went the first three quarters without hitting a long ball. Shikier Morrison added 15 points, seven rebounds and four steals.
Hershey scored nine points for EA, while O’Reilly and Colin Phillips added six points each, the latter a perfect 3-for-3 from the field.

For all the struggles holding on to the ball, EA eventually followed the lead of Dade, a junior, and Capitano, a reclassified sophomore after his transfer from Great Valley. That ultimately paid off.

“We’re a young team, but we have a lot of maturity even though we’re really young,” Dade said. “The coaches keep us in check. We were struggling with the turnovers, but we just knew if we kept fighting we’d end up on top.”

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Matthew De George

Matthew De George
Matthew De George is the Asst. Sports Editor and the lead Union writer for The Daily Times.

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