Vintage’s fast start pushes them past Antioch
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Getting off to a fast start can go a long way to winning games no matter what sport or level you’re playing at.
Luckily, the Vintage boys’ basketball team was able to gain a nice advantage in the first half against Antioch in Tuesday night’s 50-36 victory.
The Crushers (5-3) were able to finish the first quarter by going on an 8-0 run after the game was tied at 11 midway through the quarter.
“Well, one, the mad scientist (assistant) coach Brett Wedding, we made some adjustments on his significant input into the offense,” Vintage coach Ben Gongora said of the early offensive success. “And boy did the guys thrive. That’s by far the most we’ve scored in the first half, really proud of the guys.”
It also helped that Vintage was able to hold the Panthers (2-7) to only four points in the second quarter.
“Our defense has really helped us out. That’s been obviously our strength so far,” Gongora added. “Yet again, we kept a team under 50, which is our goal.”
However, things became a tad bit more interesting when the Crushers only scored three points in the third quarter when Antioch started playing a zone on defense.
“They went to a zone,” Gongora said of the third quarter scoring drought. “It’s been I don’t know how many games since we’ve seen it, but it just slowed us down a little. We worked out the kinks. We came back in the fourth quarter. We will get better and continue to improve.”
Overall, Vintage spread out their scoring pretty evenly on the night. But still leading the way was senior Imani Lopez who had 14 points and two rebounds.
After that, however, the scoring was very much spread out. Josh McCormick ended the night with seven points and four rebounds. Everett Mitchell added six points and brought in five boards. Luke Williams pitched in five points and grabbed a rebound.
“It’s great,” Gongora explained. “We’re sharing the ball super proud of the guys.”
Meanwhile, leading the way on the glass was Blake Murray who brought in eight rebounds and scored three points on the night.
“We’ve been emphasizing that and just getting better in practice, and it’s showing out here in the game,” Gongora explained of his team’s good effort on the glass.
Vintage will be back in action on Friday night at 7 p.m. when they visit Windsor.
