The 905 were not healthy.
JFL and Justise Winslow were both rehabbing their left ankles, and Jontay Porter was sick.
That left the 905 to go eight-deep with only one two-way player: Markquis Nowell.
The Wizards assigned three players down to Capital City – John Butler Jr., Patrick Baldwin Jr., and Ryan Rollins – and all three two-way players – Eugene Omoruyi, Jared Butler, and Jules Bernard – played last night. That’s essentially six end-of-bench Wizards players that the short-handed 905 were forced to deal with. And Deni Avdija watched all of this from the sidelines.
All this pretext to say the 905 got whooped 143-109.
The only time the 905 were tied with Capital City was early in the first quarter at nine apiece. By the end of the first quarter, Capital City was +9 in three-point shooting (905 were 2-9 3FG; Capital City, 5-10).
Capital City had a double-digit lead with 1 minute and 51 seconds left in the first quarter, and maintained it for the rest of the game. The 905 only lost the second quarter by four points, but the first quarter deficit put them behind 17 points at halftime.
In the third quarter, Capital City went on a 14-0 run, starting with an easy Jared Butler lay-up. Morsell’s pull-up middy stopped the bleeding, but by this point, the 905 were down 27 points with 7:38 left in the quarter.
Capital City stretched the lead to as large as 39 points in the fourth quarter. The 905 had little to no chance of a comeback with a undermanned roster without NBA talent.
During the 14-0 Capital City run during the third frame, Markquis Nowell’s defence was impressive. Notwithstanding getting left in the dust by Jared Butler’s hessy dribble, Markquis Nowell’s defence was impressive during Capital City’s 14-0 third quarter run.
He waited in the right wing for a kick out pass by Kobi Simmons, but didn’t get the ball in his hands. He still bursted back on defence, and was the first player back.
Newly acquired Capital City forward Taylor Funk tried to post Nowell up, but was as equally unsuccessful as Memphis’ Jake LaRavia and Westchester’s Jacob Toppin. Jared Butler later tried to take Nowell one-on-one from the top of the arc, but Nowell simply locked him up.
It’s a small window into what the undersized guard is capable of, but last night was another data point showing his size may not be as limiting as once perceived.
Also, Darryl Morsell, who played 33 minutes, played tenacious defence to end the 14-0 run, and his middy finally put points back on the board for the 905. Morsell finished with 14 points, and had this dunk early in the game too.
Lastly, one quick note. Eugene Omoruyi led his team in scoring with 25 points on a near-perfect 10-for-11 shooting (3-4 3FG). There are Canadians like him who have had zero experience playing for Team Canada, yet are still NBA-level talent.
The 905 face the Wisconsin Herd this Saturday, January 30th at 2 pm at Paramount for the last game of 2023. If the Westchester game proved the 905 are a competitive team, Saturday’s game should be just as interesting if most of the 905 suit up.
