Contra Costa’s first-half run and three-point shooting propels them past Napa Valley
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
When a team is better than you, it takes perfection to beat them.
On Thursday night, the Napa Valley College men’s basketball team made a valiant effort at upending the 20th-ranked Comets, but ultimately came up a bit short when they fell 95-82.
For the majority of the contest, Napa Valley (2-11 overall, 1-1 Bay Valley Conference) was able to hang with the Comets (10-2, 2-0 BVC). The separation came midway through the first half when Contra Costa went on a 12-0 run, which gave them a 14-point advantage.
“I mean, they can play. They’re a good team,” Napa Valley College head coach Steve Ball explained. “They’ve got a lot of guys that can play. We go for some stretches where we don’t defend the three-point line very well. We don’t contain penetration and that kind of thing will happen against a quality team like Contra Costa.”
Contra Costa also knocked down 10 shots from beyond the arc, which also helped keep the Napa Valley at bay.
The game was one of the Storm’s best efforts of the year. Throughout the second half, they were able to cut the deficit down to six and seven points.
Ball was pleased with how his team played in the game.
“They’re one of the top teams in our conference, one of the top teams in Northern California,” he said. “They’re a tough out. I thought throughout the game, we played hard, except for the last minute and a half, two minutes of the first half. Aside from that, I thought we played our tails off and played pretty well.”
However, another thing that could’ve changed the outcome was making a few more layups and free throws. Contra Costa was able to convert 21 of their 27 shots from the stripe. Meanwhile, Napa Valley was 19 of 28.
“Finishing and free throws and that’s a different ball game,” Ball continued. “We were down 11 I think with two minutes to go on the first half and missed a couple (of) free throws and gave them some easy buckets, and I think that allowed them to get that separation and that comfort level. And those seven points, you know, could have been made them tighten up a little bit late in the game – I don’t know, we’ll never know.”
One of the main reasons the Storm lingered for the majority of the game was the fact that they were sharing the ball really well. It reflected in the box score with five scorers in double-digits on the night.
Leading the way was Jaivon Williams. The sophomore forward finished with 22 points, 20 of which came in the second half. Williams also made 8 of his 10 shots from the stripe. He also grabbed seven rebounds.
Cameron Joesph added 15 points and two rebounds. He also made both of his free throws. Shakir Howard backed up his monster night on Wednesday with a 14 point effort where he corralled seven rebounds. 10 of his points came in the first half.
Lastly, Albert Dennis finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. He also made 4 of his 8 shots from the line.
The Storm will have a week off before their next contest. They’ll be back in action on December 30th when they host Cabrillo-Aptos at 5 pm. It will be a rematch from their season-opener on November 5th when they dropped a 66-63 heartbreaker. However, their next BVC game will be on January 4th when they head to Pittsburg to take on Los Medanos who is the No. 13 team in the state.
