Vintage battles back from 11-point first-half deficit to get revenge against Santa Rosa
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
It’s always nice to avenge a loss whenever you get the chance.
But most of the time, the chance to avenge a loss comes against league opponents who you play twice. Of course, there is always the playoffs as the lone chance to get revenge for a non-league contest.
However, on Monday afternoon, the Vintage boys’ basketball team defeated Santa Rosa, 44-43, to avenge a December 7th loss at the Wine Valley Tournament.
“It was really interesting,” Vintage coach Ben Gongora said. “I thought we would be a bit more focused. I don’t know if it was because it was Monday or because it’s non-league and our focus is just on league (play) right now.”
The game is even more rewarding for the Crushers (11-8) because at one point in the second quarter they trailed by 11 points. Vintage climbed back into the contest thanks to ramping up the defensive intensity with less than three minutes left in the first half.
“It’s nice,” Gongora explained. “The kids know my philosophy on that. Being down 11, I don’t like calling timeouts in the first quarter. I don’t like calling timeouts in the first half. I think this is our 19th game and I’ve only done that twice. So we’re down 11 didn’t panic. I love my guys I believe in them and we chipped away, chipped away. We had a little talk at halftime. We came out went from down six to up six.”
Yet, Vintage could’ve won with a little bit more ease and less stress if they would’ve knocked down their free throws. They only made 5 of their 17 free throws on the day after going 20-for-25 in last Friday’s Big Game. At the half, they were only 3-for-13 from the charity stripe.
Even after a rough effort from the line, the Crushers still got plenty of good contributions on the offensive side of the ball. But the one leading the way was Blake Murray. He ended the night with 18 points and six rebounds.
Ethan Hemmerlin added nine points and five rebounds.
Imani Lopez led the way on the glass by bringing in eight boards and scoring five points for the game.
“Well, it’s great to have Ethan Hemmerlin back,” Gongora said of the senior’s importance. “He was out for a month. I would imagine he score eight or nine and it’s just great having that senior leadership, team captain, quarterback out there, just an additional ball handler. Our scoring is starting to balance out. But, we’ve still got to be able to execute down the stretch. That was too close for comfort.”
Vintage will be back in action on Friday night at 7 p.m. when they host American Canyon, following their league bye on Wednesday night. Last week, American Canyon beat Napa 87-71.
“I don’t know too much about them,” Gongora said of the crucial matchup with American Canyon. “(Former American Canyon) Coach (Brett) Wedding’s gonna be leaned on. He knows a lot more than I do. I would imagine they’re going to run and shoot up as many threes as they possibly can.”
Other VVAL games on Wednesday night include Napa visiting Petaluma, Justin-Siena hosting Casa Grande-Petaluma, and Sonoma Valley visiting American Canyon. All games start at 7 p.m.
