Vintage’s monster run out of half leads them past Napa, to third-place finish in Wine Valley Tournament
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Though basketball is a game of runs, it takes just one to separate and gain the much-needed breathing room.
This was exactly what the Vintage boys’ basketball team did in the third quarter to beat rival Napa, 69-52, to take third in the 47th annual Wine Valley Tournament on Saturday night.
The Crushers (3-2) came out of the break and played intense defense, which led to some easy offense opportunities as part of the 20-5 run in which they gained a 19-point advantage through three quarters.
“In the first half, Napa High was dictating what we were doing,” Vintage head coach Ben Gongora said as to what changed following the break. “So we went back to say ‘well, let’s dictate what they’re going to do.’ And then defense translates to offense.”
Napa High first-year head coach Carson Carattini said his team has been struggling to play four good quarters all year, and this was an example of that issue.
“For us, it’s just details,” the coach who is also the Wine Valley Tournament director explained. “That’s five out of six (games) now that we’ve played three excellent quarters and one where we have lapses in rotations and mental errors and shooting ourselves in the foot.”
It also helped that senior Ben Jackson was scoring like it was nothing all game long as he finished with a game-high of 25 points with 5 rebounds as well.
Jackson was especially potent in the second half, where he scored 17 points. The senior forward also converted on 12 of his 13 shots from the free-throw line. His lone three was part of a four-point play where he was fouled after his shot from the win in the third quarter.
“I didn’t try to force anything,” Jackson said of his monster performance. “I think I played pretty well offensively didn’t try to force any shots just kind of let the game come to me and get the offense through me. Everything was just dropping tonight. My teammates put me in a good position to score and lead the way again so I think my teammates and everything was just falling and had good looks all night.”
The second half also saw Grayson Wyman score all 9 of his points in the second half to finish as the Crushers’ second-highest scorer. He also brought in 3 rebounds.
“Grayson is learning what it’s like to be a varsity athlete,” Gongora said of the junior forward who made a huge impact in the second half. “He has so much upside, so the ceiling is high. There’s been bumps along the way and growing pains, but he’s coming along slowly.”
Others adding to the scoring effort for Vintage were Nathan Marroquin (7 points, 2 rebounds), Connor Gongora (6 points, 3 rebounds), Josiah Flynn (6 points), Jace Lopez (5 points, 1 rebound), Collin Durfee (5 points), Elias Alvarez (4 points, 2 rebounds), Si Sabbagha (3 points, 5 rebounds), and Brady Hearn (2 points, 4 rebounds).
As for Napa (1-4), they showed many signs of potential brilliance from time to time. They were able to take a one-point lead in the second quarter twice, only to see the Crushers answer back right away.
Leading the Grizzlies in the game was Franco. The senior finished with a team-high 12 points while corralling 4 rebounds.
Other than that, Napa’s other scores were all held to single digits scoring. The best of them was Jayden Quintana who finished with 8 points and 4 rebounds.
Christian Williams (7 points, 4 rebounds), Elias Wilmert (7 points, 1 rebound), Jared Martinez (5 points, 3 rebounds), Doni Lester (4 points, 3 rebounds), Will Flynn (3 points, 3 rebounds, 4 blocked shots), Finn McGrath (3 points), and Pietro Bonera (2 points) rounded out the scoring for the hosts.
This was the first time the two schools met in the Wine Valley since 2013 as well. Their next meeting will be on January 18th when Vintage hosts Napa. The final meeting will be on February 3rd at Napa. Both of those games are 7 pm starts. They will also be Vine Valley Athletic League games.
Both teams will be back in action on Tuesday night at 7 pm. Vintage will face Santa Rosa, who won the consolation bracket on Saturday, in its first home game of the season. Meanwhile, Napa will host Elite Charter School from Vallejo.
In the other games of the day, it was West Valley of Cottonwood who beat KIPP King of San Lorenzo, 53-38, to take seventh. In the championship, Vallejo beat Bethe-Vallejo, 59-52.
