Archie Williams jumps on Vintage early, pulls away in Wine Valley Tournament opener
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
In tournaments is where a team can see some staunch competition.
That’s what happened with the Vintage boys’ basketball team in their Wine Valley Tournament opener when they lost to Archie Williams-San Anselmo 54-42.
The difference in the contest came when the Falcons (2-0) held Vintage to just four points.
“They’re a solid team,” Vintage head coach Ben Gongora pointed out. “They’re athletic. I’m happy on the first half. We didn’t rollover. I think we were down double digits, and we didn’t rollover. We fought back.”
The second quarter saw the Crushers (3-2) go on a run and go into the half down by just three. In that quarter, they allowed just nine Archie Williams points to go on the board.
Another reason Archie Williams pulled away was the marvelous effort of senior forward Will Hembroldt who finished the game with 29 points while converting all five of his foul shots. He also made just one three in the game.
“He was definitely a matchup issue,” Gongora said of Hembroldt’s game. “We tried to double team him. We tried to make him a non-factor, and we weren’t very successful. It was a tough matchup. We had some players do some things that were uncharacteristic.”
One of the lone reasons Vintage was able to stay in the game early on was their senior center, Cole Capitani. He scored all of the Crushers’ first-quarter points. Ultimately, he turned in a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds to go along with a blocked shot. He converted 6 of his 9 free throw attempts as well.
“Cole went up against some height tonight and some athleticism, and that’s good for him,” Gongora said. “ He typically is the tallest guy in the court. He wasn’t tonight, and not only did he deal with one big, he dealt with two.”
The Crushers had two other scorers in double figures as well. Jackson Corley finished the night with 11 points and brought down seven rebounds.
Ben Jackson finished with 10 points and corralled five rebounds. He also went 2-for-3 at the charity stripe.
“They played a lot of minutes, and we’re trying to tighten up the rotation,” Gongora admitted. “It’s still early in the season, and we’re working on it. So we’ve got to get them a few more breathers there. We’re asking a lot of those guys right now.”
The loss means Vintage will face Vallejo at 5:30 pm on Friday. It will be a rematch of their home-opener on November 20th when they edged out Vallejo 52-51. Meanwhile, Archie Willimas will face Windsor at 8:30 for a berth in the championship game.
