Rogers leads Capital into postseason striving for deeper run

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Capital’s boys basketball team will head into the postseason this week on a roll following a win in the MSAC finals over South Charleston.

Capital (18-4) won that game 71-55 and senior guard Leondre Rogers was honored as the MSAC boys basketball player of the year during the conference Night of Champions festivities.

The Cougars are the first team to win three straight boys basketball MSAC championships. Two of those four losses for Capital this year have come to out-of-state competition.

“We tried to play as tough of a schedule as we could,” said head coach Matt Greene. “We played four prep schools this year and we really wanted to challenge ourselves, trying to make sure we played as good of competition as we could to set us up for the postseason.”

Rogers, meanwhile, took the reins of a young team early this season and has helped the development of those younger teammates. He scored 23 points and added six assists in that MSAC title win, hitting four consecutive shots in the fourth quarter as the Cougars pulled away for the win.

“He’s just been great throughout the year,” Greene said. “He’s one of the most natural leaders that I’ve been around, on and off the court. He obviously leads us offensively, but defensively he is so quick and causes problems on the ball-handler. Offensively, I haven’t seen anyone who can stay in front of him. If he wants to get to the rim, he can get there.”

Rogers leads the Cougars in scoring with 15 points per game, while junior Anthony Pittman adds 13 points per contest and Anthony Dean contributes 10 points per game.

“Beyond Rogers and Pittman, Kerry Martin was the only other player who returned that played varsity last year,” Greene said. “We lost eight seniors from last year. It’s taken us a little bit to get going and I still feel like we have some of our best basketball ahead of us. We’ve been able to play pretty good throughout the year, but we’ve been a little more inconsistent than I wanted us to be.”

Winning the MSAC was simply the first goal this Capital team had set. The Cougars, rated No. 3 in the MetroNews Power Index, are the top seed in Class AAA Region 3, Section 1 and will host St. Albans in sectional play Wednesday.

George Washington will host South Charleston Wednesday in an elimination contest on the other side of that sectional bracket.

“Our region is pretty brutal,” Greene said. “If you come out of there, you’re playing well. Year-in and year-out, I don’t know how any (region) has been tougher. Just in our section alone, us, George Washington and South Charleston are three of the top 10 teams in the state – one definitely won’t make it to the state tournament.

“The opposing section has Woodrow Wilson and Greenbrier East,” Greene continued. “It’s an extremely tough section and that’s why we wanted to play a tough schedule and be ready for that going into the postseason.”

Capital last year advanced to the state tournament as the No. 3 seed with an overall 21-3 record. It was a heart-breaking double-overtime loss, however, in the quarterfinals as the Cougars fell to Parkersburg South 87-86.

If the Cougars can survive regional play again this year, they’ll be right in the mix for the No. 1 or No. 2 seed.