Turnovers come back to haunt Napa Valley College in home-opening loss to College of the Redwoods
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
When you commit tons of turnovers, it’s oftentimes very hard to win a game.
That was the case for the Napa Valley College men’s basketball team in their 68-57 loss in their home-opener against College of the Redwoods-Eureka.
Napa Valley (0-3) turned the ball over more than 30 times, which is cause for concern for coach Steve Ball.
“Coming into this, we were third in the state in turnovers,” he explained. “ I think we surpassed those bottom two teams and now I think we’re probably number one after a performance like that with the carelessness with the basketball. It’s just that’s got to be fixed. We’ve got to make quicker decisions, it seems we’re overthinking a lot of things.”
There were many times throughout the game when the Storm would cut the deficit to four points, but they could never get over the hump.
NVC was led by sophomore guard Braxton Adderly who had 15 points and five rebounds. Freshman guard Brando Radu also added 13 points and five rebounds.
“Hopefully he got a little fire lit under him,” Ball said of Radu’s good game. “He started the first two games (and) didn’t play exceptionally well. (He) played a little better defensively tonight. (He) jumped in some passing lanes and caused some turnovers.”
“Braxton’s the guy that we can count on,” Ball added. “We know we can count on him.”
However, all of Adderly’s scoring came in the first half.
“That’s a huge problem,” Ball explained. “A lot of it was them, but a lot of it was he wasn’t nearly as aggressive as he was in the first half.”
Leading the way on the glass was Brian Green. He snarled 11 rebounds, all while adding three points.
“He’s maximum effort on the glass,” Ball said of the freshman. He guarded their best player the was averaging almost 20 points a game I think he had 29 and 36 (points). Brian did a great job on him. When he has matched up with him, he can guard the perimeter, he can guard the post, and he’s just a maniac on the glass.”
Napa Valley College will be back in action a week from Friday when they face Cero Coso of Ridgecrest at 6 p.m. in the Bakersfield Renegade Classic.
