Vintage overcomes ten-point deficit, edges Washington in double-overtime thriller
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Adversity is a good test of a team’s character. Yet, through an injury and foul troubles, the Vintage boys’ basketball team was able to overcome it.
Of course, there’s always the fact that their game against Washington-San Francisco went to double overtime too. Even though all of that, the Crushers prevailed with a 69-66 victory when the buzzer sounded.
“I was nervous out there and hopefully I don’t show it,” Vintage coach Ben Gongora said. “But the kids rallied. That team’s a good team. We just don’t see that speed. We don’t see that kind of speed here. They got us to bend, but we didn’t break.”
The game was tight throughout with the biggest lead being at the end of the third quarter when Washington (0-1) held a ten-point edge.
“I wasn’t panicked, but I was worried,” Gongora explained of the ten-point deficit they faced. “And what we were able to do was go back to basics. And we just went simple place, meat, potatoes, and we were able to instill a different trap because, at the beginning, our trap and press wasn’t working at all because they were so much quicker than us.”
The Crushers (2-0) also got key minutes from their bench guys. But one of the biggest contributors off the bench was Everett Mitchell. The junior brought in key rebounds and even added a few points down to the stretch to help Vintage pick up the victory. On the night, he ended up with four points and four rebounds.
“Personel gave him more minutes,” Gongora added. “Loren (Castro)is really really big and has a presence inside. His weaknesses is speed. So, when we’re going up against a really quick team like we did today, we’re going to be at a disadvantage. Everett’s a little quicker and he stepped up but I’ve coached Everett for a number of years going way back to fifth grade and NBBA we have a great relationship and I have all the confidence in the world in him.”
Overall on the night, the Crushers were led by Imani Lopez. The senior had 24 points and seven rebounds. Also adding to the cause was Logan Nothmann who had 20 points and six rebounds. Unfortunately, Nothmann left the game in the first overtime with an apparent leg injury. Blake Murray also added ten points and five rebounds, while Josh McCormick added eight points and four boards.
Vintage will be back in action on Monday night when they host former Monticello Empire League rival Rodriguez-Fairfield at 7 p.m.
