All season long perennial Capital District power, the Varina has struggled. In their Capital District tournament opener against a short handed Atlee squad, and playing on their home floor, Varina finally looked like Varina.

  Riding the effective shooing of Dominque Fitts (18 points) and QuVaughn Jones (15 points), the # 6 seed Blue Devils knocked off # 3 seed Atlee 70-52.

  The Raiders entered the contest struggling after the loss of McDonalds All-American nominee R.J. Price and Varina took advantage. The Blue Devils ran out to a 6-0 start and led 15-5 with less than three minutes to play in the first period.

  Atlee climbed back into the game on the speedy penetration of Kevin Drayton (12 points) and the shooting of Bryan Reiss (18 points) to pull within 29-28 with 0:37.0 to play in the half, but Fitts nailed a demoralizing three from the right wing shortly before the buzzer to give Varina momentum heading into the locker room.

  Coming out in the second half, Varina reeled off 10 straight points before Jacob Hurd connected on a three for Atlee with 4:20 remaining in the period. 
  Varina then went on a 10-2 run to break the game open.

  With a 6-0 run to start the fourth and leading 67-46 with four minutes the play, the Blue Devils put an Atlee comeback out of reach.

Varina 70, Atlee 52
VARINA (5-16) — Fitts 18, Q. Jones 15, Wood 15, Ready 8, Harrison 4, Brown 4, J. Jones 3, White 3, Sullivan 0, Lee 0. Totals 29 8-9 70.
ATLEE (12-10) — Reiss 18, Drayton 12, Pulisic 10, Hurd 4, Cridlin 2, Rucker 2, Randolph 2, Rodgers 2, Gray 0, Snyder 0.
Totals 22 6-10 52.
Varina…............... 15 17 24 14 — 70
Atlee…................... 8 20 11 13 — 52
3-point goals — V: Wood 3, J. Jones; A: Pulisic, Reiss.