The Capital Sports Report

North Carolina, who led for nearly 37 of the 40 minutes, found itself trailing in the last minute Tuesday night. UNC’s Pete Nance scored with seconds left and then a banged up R.J. Davis saved the day when he took an aggressive charge that left him bloodied as Carolina won 72-68 at Syracuse. (1/24) The Tar Heels, up by four at the half, extended the lead to 10 at 56-46 on a three from the corner by Nance. But Syracuse chipped away until Judah Mintz scored on a double clutch in the lane to give the Orange a 63-62 lead […]

North Carolina’s Armando Bacot became the all-time rebounding leader in UNC history as he pulled down 18 rebounds in leading the Tar Heels to an 80-69 victory over rival N.C. State in Chapel Hill. (1/21) Bacot, who had 23 points, was seven for seven from the line in a game that saw 43 fouls including 27 on the Wolfpack. As a team, Carolina was 36 of 39 from the line while State finished 12 of 12. Carolina’s R.J. Davis hit all 14 of his free throw attempts as he led the Heels in scoring with 26 points. But the focus […]

Clifton Barnes of Cary has won a national writing award for an online post promoting high school classmate Buck Williams for inclusion in the basketball hall of fame. Writing for his CapitalSportsNC.com website, Barnes won an Award of Excellence from the DC area-based Communications Concepts through its 2022 Awards for Publication Excellence competition. Barnes, a UNC-Chapel Hill journalism and political science grad, was one of only two people across the nation to win Awards of Excellence in the Best Single Blog Post writing category. Dr. Stephanie Graff of Brown University was the other winner. Admittedly, Barnes was irked when he […]

By Clifton Barnes (NOTE: Barnes is a Rocky Mount Senior High classmate and former junior high football/basketball teammate of Buck Williams.) Brash. Trash talker. Controversial. Showy. A jerk. Ah, no. Competitive. Hard worker. Consistent. Team player. A winner. Yeah, that’s more like it. That’s Rocky Mount native Buck Williams. You could also say he’s overlooked, underappreciated, forgotten even. Known through much of his childhood as Charles, the Buck that came to be led the Rocky Mount Gryphons to the 1978 4A state basketball title. He took his game to the University of Maryland, where he helped lead the Terrapins to […]

Clifton Barnes of Cary has won a national writing award for a series of online posts. Writing for his CapitalSportsNC.com website, Barnes won an Award of Excellence from the DC area-based Communications Concepts through its 2021 Awards for Publication Excellence competition. Barnes, a UNC-Chapel Hill journalism and political science grad, was one of only three people across the nation to win Awards of Excellence in the Best Series of Blog Posts writing category. The articles that propelled Barnes to win the honor dealt with UNC-Chapel Hill sports news coverage and analysis. One piece pointed out by judges was in regard to the death of UNC and Rocky Mount, N.C. […]

He could have chosen George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John Adams or Benjamin Franklin. That’s what other kids were doing. But this 9-year-old from Cary, NC chose a North Carolina-product who was a star quarterback for the Washington Redskins in the 1960s and 1970s as his historic figure. Read more. Source:: Redskins