Unable to make it beyond the semifinals in 2001 and 2010, this season Coach Chris Capannola’s George Mason High boys basketball team toughed their way into today’s state championship game with their best player sidelined by an injury, but wound up being defeated by a taller and stronger Lancaster team, 66-51.
Unable to make it beyond the semifinals in 2001 and 2010, this season Coach Chris Capannola’s George Mason High boys basketball team toughed their way into today’s state championship game with their best player sidelined by an injury, but wound up being defeated by a taller and stronger Lancaster team, 66-51.
The final score marked the biggest lead that Lancaster had the entire game. Mason fell down by 10 in the first quarter, and although they pulled to within five in the third and six in the fourth period, and possession, they could not make it all the way back.
Normally a sharp shooting team specializing in three-pointers, Mason went only 3-20 from beyond the stripe today. “That kind of shooting won’t get it done,” Coach Capannola said after the game, “Not against an opponent that talented.”
Speak of talent, Capannola said this year’s team was the most talented, overall, he’s had among the three teams he’s taken to the state tournament since 2001.
Its biggest talent, senior Nate Ogle, was forced to sit in street clothes on the bench, his right wrist in a heavily-wrapped cast protect a broken wrist. Mason toughed out its semifinal win without him, but his strength and inside moves were sorely missed today. Asked by reporters after how it felt to be stuck on the bench in this big game, Ogle said, “Watching my brothers work their asses off was…” and his voice trailed off with emotion.
But Coach Capannola again praised the work of junior forward Will Nunley filling in. Nunley scored 17 points and led all rebounders with nine, although Capannola said that Nunley “goes over people, while Nate (Ogle) goes through them.”
Mason’s leading scorer and field general senior guard Noel Osbusan played another outstanding game, leading Mason scorers with 21 and picking off five steals. His last game in high school, he said he’s hoping to play at the college level next year.
Obusan and Nunley accounted for 38 of Mason’s 51 points as the team’s three top three-point shooters went 2 for 18.
“We’re a family whatever happens,” Obusan said he’d told his teammates. “This team has a real family, team concept,” Capannola added. “They are really together. They hang out together, and are always for each other. That’s been a hallmark of all the three teams I’ve coached into the state final four.”
