Vintage to meet Napa for third-place at Wine Valley Tournament after losses to Vallejo, Bethel in semifinals
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
When playing a fast and athletic team, it’s important to not let them get any tiny bit of momentum because the game can spiral quickly.
In the semifinals of the Wine Valley on Friday night, this happened to both Napa teams in the event as they dropped their semifinal matchups to the Vallejo schools.
This means the two will give us an early Christmas present on Saturday night at 5 pm when they meet in a non-league Big Game to decide who takes home third in the tournament.
In the first semifinal of the night, it was Vallejo who beat Vintage, 65-48.
The Redhawks (2-0) gained the edge early by going on an 11-0 run that went to the end of the first quarter. Before that, the game was tied at 2 till the halfway point of the first quarter when Vallejo started their run, which would prove to be the run that was the difference.
“We just made mistakes,” Vintage head coach Ben Gongora explained. “Just growing pains. I’m really proud of the way we played in terms of effort and attitude. We knew Vallejo was going to pressure us, and we just made some mistakes. It’s growing pains.”
Another thing that made it hard for Vintage to get back into the game was the fact they had 12 turnovers in the first quarter.
However, the Crushers (2-2) pivoted to a zone look after that run by Vallejo, which ended up keeping the Redhawks in check a bit more and stopping the easy fast break points that were going to Vallejo.
“The plan was coming out bluffing and recovering on the shooters,” Vintage senior captain and forward Ben Jackson said as to what the idea was when switching to a zone, which forced plenty of long, missed shots from the three-point line. “Make them question the shooters, get a hand up, always get a hand up on shooters. Then, just make them turn the ball over. Kind of force them to really run their sets in the half-court and make them work for every single basket they get.”
The fast break was the best way for Vallejo to score too. After all, their top scorer Tyriq McNeal got every point on a dunk or layup. He finished the night with 14 points.
Jasier Smith finished with 10 points to help the Redhawks scoring efforts in the game.
As for Vintage, it was Jackson who finished with a game-high 18 points while also grabbing five rebounds. The senior did the majority of his damage in the second half where he scored 11 points. He also converted 3 of 5 shots from the free-throw line.
The senior said he was just taking what the defense gave him most of the time.
“I let the game come to me, but the game got to me” he explained. “When I had to step up, I tried to step up, taking shots. But really, I just let the game flow through me, and obviously, move the score and facilitate any way possible, and really just take what the defense gives me every single possession.”
Si Sabbagha finished as the Crushers’ second-best scorer of the game by adding 8 points. Others scoring on the night included Jace Lopez (7 points, 2 rebounds), Nathan Marroquin (6 points, 3 rebounds), Elias Alvarez (4 points, 9 rebounds), Connor Gongora (3 points, 1 rebound), and Grayson Wyman (2 points, 6 rebounds).
Bethel earns spot in the championship game, beats Napa in other semifinal game
In the final game of the night, it was Bethel of Vallejo beating Napa, 63-43. This result means it will be a battle of Vallejo in the championship game on Saturday at 6:30 pm.
The game was tight at the start. After all, the two were matching each other at every point early on in the first quarter. The game was tied at 8 midway through the first period.
But then, Bethel (3-0) went on a run that would give them all the separation they needed to go on and win. The run was a 13-0 one that lasted till there was just 1:19 left in the first when Napa answered with a bucket.
“We turn the ball over. That’s something that we’re trying to work on,” Napa High first-year head coach Carson Carattini said of what led to the Jaguars’ run in the first quarter. “Taking care of the basketball, just being sharp with what we do. A lot of the time, I think we’re in the right spot. We’re making good choices for the most part, but just not doing it to a level of detail that is necessary in high-level games.”
Like in the game before, the Jaguars were able to use the fast break to their advantage, which also helped gain separation.
The Grizzlies (1-3) deployed their full-court press with a zone look in the half-court, which briefly brought them back into the game as well.
“We went to the zone for like two possessions, and that was to just get them to stop and think and steel a possession here or there,” Carattini explained of the short swap to zone, which slightly got them back into the game. “I love to do that. Then we went to that press and we were in that press for a long time. Our guys really showed some grit being able to play at that level of intensity. Usually, you don’t see teams from Napa pressing teams from Vallejo, so I was really excited to see us turn them over a lot.”
Leading Napa on the night was Jayden Quintana. The junior point guard finished with 17 points and 2 rebounds in the game. He scored a lot more in the second half as well, where he scored 12 points. Quintana also made 6 of his 10 shots from the line.
Christian Williams finished with 13 points to help the cause for Napa. He too did the bulk of his scoring in the second half where he scored seven points. He also grabbed five rebounds.
Others scoring in the game were Nico Franco (8 points, 1 rebound), Elias Wilmert (2 points, 2 rebounds), Sebastian Deibert (2 points), and Will Flynn (1 point, 3 rebounds, 2 blocked shots).
The other games taking place Saturday will be KIPP King-San Lorenzo vs West Valley-Cottonwood in the seventh-place game at 2 pm and Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park vs Santa Rosa in the consolation championship at 3:30 pm.
