Capitol City Classic – 2025 More Top Performers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 2024 Capitol City Classic took place this past week and while much of the pre-tournament focus was on the national teams with top-ranked players that were in attendance, it was the in-state squads that stole the show as three of the four teams in the semifinals were from Oregon - specifically the Three Rivers League - and in the end, it was Tualatin hoisting the trophy in a win over Oregon City.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We had the opportunity to drop by the event on multiple days to take in the action and while we missed out on seeing the eventual champs Tualatin in action, we saw every other team from Oregon at least once. Here's a look at some more top performers we saw from the senior class of 2025 that play on schools outside of the 6A classification.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2046424' first='Gavin' last='Aguilar'] (2025 West Albany)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Great tournament for Aguilar, who should see an increase in his college recruitment after his play in Salem. The 6-foot-1 point guard did a great job of balancing facilitating for others and his own offense, by getting a feel for what the game needed from him and reacting in kind. In a win over Jefferson in the consolation round, he started off the game getting his teammates involved and then when some offense was needed, started to look for his own shot and get his team going that way. We caught up with Aguilar during the tournament and will be posting an update soon.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2045350' first='Owen' last='Hopkins'] (2025 West Albany)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A couple of solid 20-point gmaes for Hopkins in the middle of the tournament, as the 6-foot-3 wing was able to display his ability to score at all three levels. While there's no question the senior's mind is typically set on scoring the basketball, he also played unselfishly and was more than willing to find the open man and help out on the boards and on the defensive end. An underrated athlete, one of his highlights during the tournament was getting loose on the break and throwing one down in traffic in the opener against Oregon City.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1368276' first='Cole' last='Hammack'] (2025 Wilsonville)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After a tough game in Wilsonville's opening loss to West Salem, Hammack got things going the rest of the event. He dropped three more 20-point games, including 25 in the team's final win over Churchill where he put the team on his back at the end and got what ended up being the game-winning points. The 5-foot-10 senior finished plays extremely well once he was able to get downhill and to the hoop and capably got his own offense without sacrificing his abilities to also find teammates for scores and keep them involved in the action.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1368274' first='Cruz' last='Veliz'] (2025 Woodburn)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The tournament started out a little tough for Veliz with only 8 points in a Woodburn loss to Sprague in the first round, but things were quickly rectified. There was another tough loss to Churchill in overtime, but the 5-foot-11 point guard did all he could to keep the Bulldogs in contention, dropping a cool 42 points which included 14-for-16 shooting from the free throw line. An area where Veliz made an impact all tournament long was on the defensive end with his quick hands and instincts leading to multiple steals every game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2458239' first='Gavin' last='Hall'] (2025 Western Christian)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Western Christian had perhaps the most magical win at the tournament, defeating Chatsworth (CA) in their opener and Hall certainly had a ton to do with that. The 5-foot-9 guard simply got buckets, knocking down shots from everywhere and getting to the basket and finishing all night over bigger opponents. The prodigious scoring continued the next couple of games and while he ran out of gas at the very end, the Pioneers proved they could hang with the big boys - which should put some scare into the rest of 2A as Western Christian pursues a repeat title.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->