Vintage’s monster two-quarter run propels them past Justin-Siena to continue winning streak
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
No matter how you slice it, it’s pretty impressive when a team can hold another team scoreless for nearly a quarter and a half.
On Thursday night, that’s what the Vintage boys’ basketball team did as they beat Justin-Siena 48-33.
The Crushers (16-8 overall, 6-5 VVAL) were able to hold the Braves scoreless through the second quarter, and the run made it to 17 straight before Justin-Siena answered with a Travis Hightower free throw at the 5:44 mark of the third quarter.
“I think we came out a little slow. We were missing a few rotations,” Vintage senior guard Jackson Corley said. “We called a couple of timeouts and got those rotations figured out, and I think that was the reason they were so frantic, turning the ball over, they weren’t ready for that pressure.”
Vintage also held Justin-Siena to just 13 points through three frames. With how good the league is this year, it’s quite a feat.
“We are peaking at the right time, and we are trying to show what this team is capable of doing,” Vintage head coach Ben Gongora explained. “To hold any team in the VVAL this year to 13 points through three quarters is beyond impressive. If you’re a Justin fan, if you’re a Vintage fan, if you’re a basketball fan, you have to acknowledge that this is impressive – and I am so proud of these guys for the defensive game plan that we put in place and were able to execute.”
Vintage also came in with a game plan to not let the top weapons of Travis Hightower and Vince Jackson beat them.
“So we identified our targets and we executed our mission almost to perfection,” Gongora emphasized of limiting Justin-Siena’s weapons two weeks after Hightower scored 24 points against them. “(Assistant coach Brett) Wedding and I have been here for three years and we agreed that this was by far the best defensive display we’ve had since we’ve been back. It was impressive.”
In the meeting two weeks ago, Hightower went for 24 points – the highest in the contest.
The win also means that the Crushers have put together a four-game winning streak. Because of this, they have vaulted up to the third spot in the league standings. They also had a bit of a break in their season when games had to be postponed, which made them realize the team they could be.
“I think starting out a little slow in league, we were all not really prepared for that,” Corley continued. “The little break that coach (Gongora) mentioned, we realized the talent and the opportunities this team has, and we just knew we weren’t playing to our potential. So we came together and we knew that we had to work and we had to finish out the season as strong as possible.”
Justin-Siena head coach Nick Guillory said Vintage’s switch to a 2-3 zone made it hard for his team to score, and that his team didn’t get shots to fall when they got around the basket.
“The 2-3 zone they switched to was effective,” he explained. “They were active on the perimeter getting in passing lanes and made it difficult to get post touches as well. That said, we got some looks but just couldn’t put them in. That’s how it goes sometimes. I’m proud of my guys for fighting to the end.”
Another thing that helped Vintage get the victory was the play of Corley who was the main beneficiary of the stingy defense.
He finished with a game-high 24 points and brought in 4 rebounds. This comes with him also leading his team with 30 points on Tuesday night at Petaluma, and 18 points in Monday’s Big Game.
Corley scored 14 of his points after the break and made 6 of 8 free throws. At one point in the game, he had scored more points than Justin-Siena did as a team.
Bryce Powers (9 points, 6 rebounds), Noah Cockrell (8 points, 3 rebounds), Anthony Notaro (3 points, 4 rebounds), and Ben Jackson (2 points, 1 rebound) rounded out the Vintage scoring.
Leading Justin-Siena (14-9, 4-6 VVAL) was Asher Cleary. The junior finished with the second-highest point total in the game with a team-high of 15 points and also corralled 8 rebounds.
“Asher had a really good night on both ends of the floor,” Guillory said of Cleary. “Offensively, he got us going early by getting to the rim, and was our main source of offense when we needed it to get out of the long scoring droughts we found ourselves in. He’s a confident kid and someone we can go to when we need a bucket or a big play.”
Cleary scored 11 of his points in the second half and converted 6 of 10 free throws.
Vince Jackson (8 points, 5 rebounds), Andrew Grimshaw (4 points, 6 rebounds), Ma’el Blunt (4 points, 1 rebound), and Travis Hightower (2 points, 8 rebounds, and a block) rounded out the scoring for the Braves.
Both teams will be back at home on Friday. Justin-Siena will host Napa, and Vintage will host Sonoma Valley. Both games start at 7 pm. It will be Senior night for both teams as well.
In the last meetings, Sonoma Valley beat Vintage 59-54 on February 1st, and Justin-Siena beat Napa 53-35 on January 29th.
In other league action Thursday night, Petaluma beat Napa 70-52.
