Napa squeaks past Vintage in Big Game to claim a share of league title
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Don Lex (LuckyDuckImages.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
When you’re leading your league there’s a target on your back.
That was the case for the Napa High boys basketball team as rival Vintage gave them everything they’d want in Monday night’s Big Game, as they came away with a 61-54 win.
The win is big because it gives the Grizzlies (18-5 overall, 9-0 Vine Valley Athletic League) at least a share of the league title.
“It’s amazing,” Napa sophomore guard Brayden Greenlee said of being on the verge of a league title. “I’ve never been a league champ in my whole basketball career, so it’s going to be fun.”
“It’s great,” Napa coach Zack Cook said of being on the verge of winning the VVAL title. “Hopefully we can win it outright. But our school has had three league championships in boys basketball in 120 years, so it would be pretty special if we were able to get the fourth.”
To begin the game the Crushers started the game on a 12-2 run, to put Napa on their heels early.
“We just said ‘stay the course’,” Zack Cook said. “They shot really, really well there in the first quarter. I think they missed once (from the field). And then we said ‘stay the course, keep getting stops, and slowly let’s chip our way back into it’. And we were able to do that.”
“Just get it done in the defensive end,” Greenlee explained as to what they had to do to climb back into the game. “We just put the clamps down.”
Over their four-game league winning streak Vintage (10-12, 5-5 VVAL) has been finding ways to win, but on Monday night the things that were going well for them came back to bite them.
“I think in the end we let the emotion get to us,” Vintage coach Rob Johnson explained. “We really didn’t capitalize on some things that for the last four games we’ve been doing.”
The Crushers were led by senior guard Jared Rendon who had 15 points and five rebounds. Grant Polk had nine points and four rebounds, while Blake Murray also had nine points with three rebounds.
As for Napa they were led by their sophomore duo of Brock Bowers and Greenlee. Bowers had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Greenlee added 19 points and three rebounds.
“I’ve been struggling lately, so I just felt like tonight was my night,” Greenlee explained. “I just played loose, my teammates were there for me, and I just had a good game.”
The duo, which will be around for a while still is an important part of Napa’s success.
“They were awesome tonight,” Cook said of Bowers and Greenlee’s big nights. “They played great.”
“Me and Brock have played together since we were little kids, so the chemistry is there already,” Greenlee said of playing with Bowers. “We’re buds.”
Both teams will have crucial games on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Vintage will visit Sonoma Valley in what could be a play in game to VVAL end of the season tournament, while Napa can clich it’s first league title since 1991 when they face American Canyon. In their first meetings on January 11th Vintage lost to Sonoma Valley 52-51, while Napa beat American Canyon 63-55.
