American Canyon’s double-digit first quarter lead ends up being too much for Vintage to overcome
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Often times, falling down by double-digits is too much for a team to overcome.
But, don’t tell that to the Vintage boys’ basketball team. In Friday night’s game with American Canyon, the Crushers nearly overcame a double-digit deficit in the first quarter before falling 60-56.
One of the reasons the Wolves (8-9 overall, 3-3 Vine Valley Athletic League) gained such a large advantage was the fact that they made a plethora of three-pointers.
“They were on fire to start,” Vintage coach Ben Gongora said. “They had six threes in the first quarter and that was the difference. We didn’t panic. We’ve been here before. I’m a little pissed that he caused me to call a timeout in the first quarter. We fought back, we showed our grit. We showed our toughness.”
However, just like their game on Monday, Vintage (11-9, 4-2 VVAL) fought back throughout the second half. For the majority of the half, the closest the Crushers got was down by nine. But in the fourth, they cut the lead all the way down to two after Blake Murray hit a three-point shot in the corner with 10.2 left in the game.
Another thing that helped Vintage comeback was the fact that they outscored their opponents in the second, third, and fourth quarters.
“We just played our game,” Gongora explained. “That shooting is not sustainable at any level. So, we just played our game. We didn’t change anything and we didn’t panic. No one panicked and they’re sitting there going ‘dang it.’”
The Crushers were led by Murray. He scored 19 points and four rebounds.
Imani Lopez added 10 points and five rebounds.
Leading the way on the glass was Everett Mitchell who brought in seven boards and added nine points in the game.
This game also concludes the first half of VVAL play for both teams. Starting next Wednesday at 7 p.m., the second half will start with both teams back in action. Vintage will host Casa Grande-Petaluma and American Canyon will visit Justin-Siena. The full league standings can be viewed here.
In the first meetings, Vintage beat Casa Grande 61-53 and American Canyon beat Justin-Siena 54-49.
In other league games on Friday night, Petaluma beat Justin-Siena 46-31 and Sonoma Valley beat Casa Grande 65-55.
