Vintage pulls past Vallejo behind strong fourth quarter, while Napa studders in fourth quarter to fall to Santa Rosa in second-day action at Wine Valley
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
It’s rare when you get another shot at a team that you’ve seen once when a season is young. Those have to be savored because it is so abnormal.
It turned out rematches were on the menu for both Napa and Vintage on Friday night on day two of the Wine Valley Tournament.
In the first game of a back-to-back for the local schools, Vintage beat Vallejo 57-46.
The game was tight until the fourth quarter when the Crushers (4-2) allowed just eight Red Hawk points to score.
“I don’t think we were tired,” Vintage head coach Ben Gongora explained. “I think Vallejo was tired.”
The Wine Valley Tournament has been a time to shine for Vintage senior center Cole Capitani. On Friday night, he tallied an impressive 27 points and 23 rebounds. Capitani also went 3 of 4 from the free-throw line.
“I just feel like it was a really good game,” the 6-foot-7 senior explained. “The matchups are there for me and just getting the ball into me throughout the guards is really been helping and the last couple of games.”
Added Gongora, “Well, he continues to improve since the first time I met him, I’ve always wanted him to be more physical and more assertive. And we really made it a concerted effort to take advantage of a mismatch throwing them a lot more high passes throwing him a lot more lobs, and he’s been improving. This is what we expected from him his senior year.”
Also pitching in was Jackson Corley. He finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Corley converted 1 of his 7 foul shots in the game.
Ben Jackson finished with 8 points and a rebound. He also went 2-for-3 at the line as well.
With the victory, the Crushers will meet Bethel of Vallejo in the consolation championship game on Saturday morning at 10:30 am. Meanwhile, Vallejo (1-3) will face Rancho Cotate in the seventh-place game at 9 am.
Napa drops Wine Valley semifinal
In the first semifinal on the winner’s side of the bracket, Napa fell to Santa Rosa 65-51.
The Grizzlies (1-3) kept the game close until the fourth quarter where shots suddenly stopped falling.
“We continue going through our shots – (it’s) just the way of basketball sometimes,” Napa High head coach Joel Garcia explained. “The shots will tend to fall and tend to not but I’m proud of the way that Napa high boys played today.”
Garcia has plenty of reason to be happy with what he saw from his team. After all, they have come a long way since losing to the 5-0 Panthers 75-43 on November 18th.
“I saw Napa High have a chip on their shoulder,” the coach continued. “They were willing to fight and we had three beautiful quarters, and then we let them slip away in the fourth quarter.”
Once again putting forth a marvelous performance was Dylan Newman. The senior scored 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and blocked two shots. He also was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
“He has a whole new mentality,” Garcia said of Newman. “He’s driving, he’s getting to the bucket, he’s getting boards. He’s getting pullbacks – it’s a beautiful thing to see.”
Nico Franco also added 10 points to the cause and brought down four rebounds.
The loss means Napa will face Windsor in the third-place game Saturday at noon. Santa Rosa will face Archie Williams for the title at 1:30 pm.
