RDU All-Star game unites Cap-8 basketball players

Saturday was a pretty unusual sight for Cap-8 Conference boys’ basketball players.

With each meeting from January to March, they were battling against each other. They fought all season to be the better team, clawing and fighting to beat their opponents.

But six players from the league were invited to this year’s RDU High School All-Star basketball game, which was hosted at Millbrook. The Cap-8 dominated the boys’ roster, and the players actually enjoyed competing together for a change.

“It was fun,” said Broughton senior Tharon Suggs, who finished with 10 points in the Raleigh team’s 128-96 win over the Durham All-Stars. The game pitted top Raleigh and Durham players against each other but also united Cap-8 players.

“Most of the time, we’re preparing with our team, preparing against and playing against their best players,” Suggs said, “so it’s fun to see how they play and play with them and combine how good we all are.”

Each of the five Cap-8 guys who played Saturday scored. One, Millbrook’s John Burwell, was on college visits and couldn’t participate, but he was well-represented by his teammates Faison Brock and Trejon Jacob on their home court.

Brock, who had five points, seven boards and two blocks, put back a Suggs basket to assert Raleigh’s third-quarter lead. The games’ Most Valuable Player, Dondre Griffin of Knightdale, came out and fired four straight 3-pointers to extend Raleigh’s 48-44 halftime lead.

Brock later took a pass from Sanderson’s Taj Thompson behind the back through the lane and finished to give the Raleigh all-stars an 81-57 lead in the third.

“We’re used to playing against the Cap-8 (players) in a really competitive conference,” Brock said. “Getting a chance to have these guys on our team gives us a different view point of how they play. It was a fun experience playing on the same team rather than being opponents.”

Jacob, who finished with 10 points that including a wild shot sinking at the third-quarter buzzer, was glad to laugh and joke around with the Raleigh all-star team. He embraced Leesville Road’s Ben Zemonek with a hand pat on a substitution and after the game said “Who knew these guys could be so cool?”

“It was a relief,” Jacob said. “You know, all year we’d been going at each other. Day in, day out. Now we came together as a team. We’re getting to laugh, have fun and try to get the dub.”

Zemonek mimicked Brock’s sentiments about the game offering a new perspective for the usual opponents who tried to take down a Durham team led by Prominence Academy’s Charles Norman. He scored 32 points on 14-of-18 attempts.

“It’s a lot different,” said the Pride’s Zemonek, who had six points and four rebounds. “This time, we’re all having fun playing together. It’s a lot different, a different attitude.”

While the All-Star game combined Cap-8 players, it also gave those who grew up together one last time to play on the same court.

Many of the players selected were in AAU leagues together as kids.

Thompson said they had to take advantage of the opportunity.

“We don’t usually get this chance,” he said. “We just wanted to make the most out of it and have the most fun we can.”

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 1:50 PM with the headline "RDU All-Star game unites Cap-8 basketball players."