City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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It wasn’t until the second time the ball bounced off the rim that Plumstead Christian’s Cam Capeci thought that his potential game-winning attempt had a chance of going in, and even then he was skeptical.

“I didn’t think it was going to drop at all,” he said after the game.

But Capeci’s 3-pointer as time expired hit the rim four times, bounced off the backboard and eventually rattled its way to the bottom of the net to give Plumstead a dramatic 38-37 win over Calvary Christian Academy in the first round of the BAL playoffs on Monday night.

“It was unbelievable, I can’t really come up with the words to describe that one,” said Capeci. “It’s going to be my favorite shot of all time.”

The implausible basket was the final play in a wild series at the end of the game, which gave the ninth-seeded Panthers a win over eighth-seeded Calvary. The Eagles took the lead on Josiah Thompson’s jumper with 17 seconds left and each team exchanged a missed free throw before the Panthers corralled a rebound and called a timeout with three seconds left.

Inbounding the ball under the other team’s basket, Plumstead coach Jim Zeldenrust said the plan was to get the ball in the hands of Capeci, a senior, who had come up clutch for the Panthers before.

“That’s his third game winner in three years, Zeldenrust, who also admitted he didn’t think the last-second attempt was going to go in initially.

“And I told him, ‘You hit the craziest shots.’ That’s what makes basketball fun, that’s what makes sports fun. We’ve been on the other side of that, so I know how they feel. That’s a tough break for them. But the plan was to get him the ball and if they doubled him to find another shooter, but they didn’t so he was able to make a play.”

Just like there was doubt about Capeci’s clutch triple, a few weeks ago he wasn’t sure if he was even going to be able to finish out his final high school season on the court.

In mid-January, Capeci felt a persistent and sharp pain in his abdomen while sitting in class one day. It turned out he had appendicitis.

After a surgery and five games on the sidelines, Capeci was able to get back in the game.

“I could’ve been way worse,” he said. “I’m so thankful I got to be back out there.”

Zeldenrust described Capeci as the “MVP of the team” and that showed Monday as he saved his best basketball for last. Capeci scored all eight of his team’s fourth-quarter points after the Eagles made a five-point deficit disappear halfway through the final frame.

“He’s really tenacious and fiery and kind of the emotional part of our team,” Zeldenrust said. “He’s a wrecking ball and he can get to the basket so easily. Not many other guys can. He’s so dynamic – if you put a big on him, he’s going to drive, if you put a guard on him, he’ll post up. He’s kind of like that Draymond Green type player that can do everything.”

Plumstead’s Shane Curry led all scorers with 16 points and imitated another S. Curry with four 3-pointers. Meanwhile, Joey Valentini had a team-high 10 points for Calvary, while Brett Kikendall added nine.

The season is not over for the Eagles, who are the No. 2 seed in the Class AA District 1 playoffs. They will meet Devon Prep in the District semifinals on Feb. 24.

Plumstead moves on to face top-seeded Phil-Mont Christian in the BAL quarterfinals on Tuesday. The team is also the No. 7 seed in the Class A District 1 playoffs, slated to play Faith Christian on Feb. 19.

Whatever happens in the rest of the season, though, Plumstead will have a playoff memory neither Capeci nor his teammates will soon forget.