It wasn't quite Valentine's Day and it was certainly no massacre, but the bottom line was still the same: Don't mjos with Njos.

Of course this isn't Al Capone's nemesis Eliot Ness, but Capital High's Matt Njos (pronounced Ness), who scored a game-high 18 points to lift the Bruins over Helena High 60-54.

"He's a heck of a competitor," Capital head coach Guy Almquist said of his sophomore point guard. "The bigger the game and the bigger the moment, the better he plays."

Njos also had five assists and three steals, not to mention handling the wrath of his coach from the sidelines.

"He knows I'm hard on my point guard, but he responds," Almquist added with a glint in his eye. "That's what I like about him."

The Bengals came out looking as if they'd make short work of the Bruins as they tossed in the game's first nine points. Derek Herrin scored five of those and Brian Evans capped off the run with a put-back of his own miss.

Capital outscored the Bengals 9-2 the rest of the quarter to get back in the hunt. Njos had a hand in seven of those as he scored five and had an assist.

"We knew going in that we wanted to get a hand up in his face," Helena High head coach Willie Schlepp said. "But he's still able to do that, so that's a credit to him"

"They came ready to play there's no doubt about that," Almquist said of the Bengals. "We were tight and lucky to get back the momentum back at the end of the first quarter. We needed to make some adjustments to get the ball to (senior post) Clay (Bignell) a little more, they just completely took him out in the first half."

The run helped loosen up the zone, but Almquist provided a less obvious reason.

"I don't think their zone loosened it up until we got the ball inside," he said. "We stood around and didn't take advantage of the high post.

"One of our strengths is our four players - Brian Bignell and Matt Miller-- are both great passers, which really helps against a zone."

The Bengals pushed their lead to 17-12 early in the second, but the Bruins scored nine straight to claim the lead. Bignell finally got loose underneath and scored the last four to put Capital up 21-17.

The lead changed hands six times and the score was tied five times over the next eight minutes before the Bruins made a quick, decisive run in the third.

Trailing 33-32, Njos hit a trey and Casey Lamping scored three straight times on fast breaks drawing a foul on the last one and converting.

"I thought the third quarter was huge again," Schlepp said in refering to the last crosstown game when the Bruins scored 22 unanswered points in the third to break open a tight game. "They made a run and we called timeout, but they came right back and got after it again. That's a credit to Capital for sticking with it."

Njos found Lamping the first time, then Brian Bignell followed with a nice pass and Matt Miller hit him on the finale. The 10-0 run put the Bruins up 42-33 and set the Bengals on their collective heels.

"He's a big athletic kid with a lot of confidence and he's a slasher," Almquist said of Lamping. "He's someone who can get out on the break and attack the basket and we needed someone to do that."

Capital shooting guard Marcus Rowan was the only other Bruin in double figures as he finished with 10 points, including a pair of treys. Lamping finished with nine points and two assits. Clay and Brian Bignell finish with nine and eight points, respectively. They both had a team-high six rebounds.

Helena got a boost from the shooting of its guards as well. Herrin finished with a team-high 14, while Evans tossed in 12. They combined to hit 4-of-5 three pointers.

Helena 11 14 16 13 - 54

Capital 9 18 20 13 - 60

Helena - Grant Fink 1-3 4-6 6, Derek Herrin 6-8 0-2 14, Brian Evans 4-8 2-2 12, Reil Cornelius 2-6 5-5 9, Tom Donnelly 1-4 0-0 2, Steven Foster 1-1 0-0 2, Brian Kessler 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Stubblefield 3-9 0-2 7, Drew Waltee 1-3 0-2 2. Totals: 19-42 11-19 54.

Capital - Matt Njos 5-7 4-6 18, Marcus Rowan 3-3 2-4 10, Matt Miller 1-4 2-4 4, Grant Boynton 1-1 0-0 2, Casey Lamping 3-7 3-5 9, Clay Bignell 3-7 3-5 9, Brian Bignell 3-5 2-2 8. Totals: 19-34 16-26 60.

Three point field goals - Helena 5-11 (Herrin 2-2, Evans 2-3, Stubblefield 1-2), Capital 6-10 (Njos 4-6, Rowan 2-2). Rebounds - Helena 20 (Fink 7, Waltee 4), Capital 26 (C. Bignell 6, B. Bignell 6, Rowan 4, Miller 4). Assists - Helena 15 (Herrin 5), Capital 14 (Njos 5, B. Bignell 3). Steals - Helena 8 (Herrin 3), Capital 7 (Njos 3, Miller 3). Turnovers - Helena 15, Capital 17. Fouls - Helena 23, Capital 17.