Turnovers, strong three-point shooting doom Justin-Siena in defensive battle against American Canyon in season-opener
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Don Lex (LuckyDuckImages.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
In sports, mistakes will cost you games that you possibly could’ve won.
On Tuesday night, that was the case for the Justin-Siena boys basketball team as they were narrowly edged by American Canyon 51-46.
“I thought that we turned the ball over way too much,” Justin-Siena head coach Dave Granucci explained. “You’re not going to beat a team like that or any team like that turning the ball over that much.”
Part of the reason the Braves (0-1 overall, 0-1 Vine Valley Athletic League) had so many turnovers was due to the fact that they had a very young starting group take the court in the opener.
“I thought our guys fought. They played hard,” Granucci added. “They stayed together. We haven’t gone up against any zone, let alone a 1-3-1. We’ve gone over our press attack one time for like eight minutes in a practice. It’s a whole new group. It really is, it’s a whole new group. We started a freshman, three sophomores, and a senior. We know that there’s going to be growing pains, but I thought that we did a really good job. I thought our guys did a really good job.”
The first half was very low scoring. After the first quarter, Justin-Siena held a 9-8 advantage before they went to the half down 18-17.
The Braves also grabbed 28 total rebounds on the night, which meant they were beaten on the glass by the Wolves (2-1 overall, 1-1 VVAL).
American Canyon also did a good job from the three-point line on the night, which helped them maintain their largest lead of 12 points.
“We go caught late in arriving on the catch on some of those and they were able to knock them down,” Granucci said. “Then, they got a rhythm. We knew they had some guys that could make shots from there. There were some breakdowns there for sure. You know how it is like you make a couple of shots and then all of a sudden now even when you’re contested, you’re still feeling comfortable. It doesn’t make a huge difference. There was s stretch there where we were actually playing pretty good basketball, but they were making shots.”
In the second half, Justin-Siena also appeared to be making a comeback. A steal and dunk by Jaden Washington changed the momentum until Washington was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim too long afterward.
Leading the Braves on the night was sophomore Vince Jackson who scored ten points and grabbed eight rebounds. Also bringing in eight rebounds was Keith Binz who also scored two points on the night.
“Keith is solid,” Granucci said of his senior guard. “He knows exactly what we want. So I trust him.”
“Vince started off a little slow but found his rhythm again,” Granucci added about his sophomore forward.
Asher Cleary added nine points and two boards one night. Caden McDevitt and Jadyn Satten each pitched in 8 points and three rebounds as well.
Both teams will be in action again at 7 pm on Thursday night. Justin-Siena will host Vintage in the first meeting in the battle of Trower Avenue. American Canyon has the league bye but will host Clayton Valley Charter-Concord.
In other VVAL games on Tuesday night, Vintage beat Casa Grande-Petaluma 70-66, and Sonoma Valley beat Napa 57-50. Petaluma has the league bye Tuesday and beat Windsor 50-43.
