American Canyon battles back in fourth quarter thanks to strong defense to edge Napa in nail-biter
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsnews
It always seems like there’s one game that you had the whole way and then let slip through your fingertips. It’s bound to happen in a long season.
On Wednesday night at Messner Gym, this happened to the Napa High boys’ basketball team as they were edged, 54-49, in a nail-biter against the defending Vine Valley Athletic League champions.
The Wolves also started the game fast. From the opening tip, they quickly vaulted out to a 6-0 lead. That run lasted until the 5:44 mark of the first quarter.
“Well, we always try to start out with more energy than the other team,” American Canyon guard CJ Mitchell pointed out. “So we try to get out early so that at the end of the game, we don’t have to worry about these close games. But they came back so we just let down on defense for a second. But we had to regroup ourselves, get back together as a team and play together.”
American Canyon also had to fight at the start of the second half. For that reason, they used their full-court press to create some bad decisions while also swinging the momentum.
“I think our advantages is out in the open court against some teams, we have different advantages against other teams,” American Canyon head coach Scott Hayburn said of the full-court press. “I thought tonight, we had active and strong enough guards in the front court, for our press to really be effective. I didn’t know how it would go, obviously. But I wanted to see if they could handle it. A couple of times they beat it down. But the more it worked, the more we put it on. So it was more of a trial and error and kind of see how they handled it.”
Leading the way for American Canyon was junior wing Noah Budu. He knocked down the key free throw that gave his team a 53-49 lead and iced the game. He also finished with a game-high of 20 points and brought down 9 rebounds. He did the majority of his damage in the first half where he scored 12 points.
“Strength, intensity, tenacity – all the stuff he brings every game,” Hayburn said as to the importance of Budu in the contest. “He leads our team in rebounding. He leads our team in blocks, he leads our team in steals. That free throw he hit essentially won the game. He went on a stretch where he made six straight free throws in the, I think second to third quarter and that’s been an area of concern for him earlier in the year. So I was really proud that he was able to correct that.”
Also having a nice game for the Wolves was Mitchell. The senior finished with 16 points to help the winning effort.
“Well, I really feel like my shot was going down,” Mitchell said of his game where he was the team’s second-highest scorer. “I think I was just waiting for my shots to get open and getting open in the corner. I think I really stood out on the three tonight and my shot was working tonight. I was just open. I got good, open looks. I knocked down the shot.”
Lastly, Nathaniel Epejo finished the night with 11 points to be the third double-digit scorer for American Canyon.
“We have no consistency in terms of like who scores what and how often. Some days It’s more spread out,” Hayburn said of having a trio of scores in double digits. “Sometimes it’s more localized to a couple players. I feel like we can be a different team every night and it’s not necessarily a good thing.”
Napa (3-14, 1-3 VVAL) clawed back many times in this game. After getting down 6-0 early in the first, they went on an 11-3 run to be all tied up at 11 at the end of a frame.
“I think and I think you saw it as the night went on, our team has a lot of confidence and where maybe in the past six or run like that is enough to knock us out,” Napa High first year-head coach Carson Carattini said of the way his team fought in the game. “But in my eyes, we’re trying to build something that is stronger than that mentally tougher than that to where we know we’ve got 32 minutes of basketball and we’re going to play hard the entire time. So if you’re going to continue to allow us to breathe we’re going to continue to fight. Early on hey, we whether a quick little storm, but we’re gonna come right back at you.”
The Grizzlies also had their own trio of double-figure scorers. Leading all of them was Christian Williams. The junior finished with a team-high of 13 points and brought down 2 rebounds. He was a different player after halftime, as all of his points came after the break.
Eli Mindle was one of the unsung heroes of the night for Napa. The junior shooting guard finished with 12 points, on four shots from three-point land and a rebound. He also scored 6 points in each half.
“I watched that from him every day,” Carattini said of Mindle. “I’ve been watching that since he transferred in in the summer. The more I watched him play, I knew right away he could score the basketball. That kid can really shoot it and he’s got a special touch and he knows where to be and when to be there and he’s really learning to just be a threat constantly.”
Lastly, Nico Franco finished with 11 points and brought in 5 rebounds. The senior guard scored all 11 points in the first half. He scored 8 of them in the first quarter when Napa climbed back into the game as well.
Rounding out the scoring for the Grizzlies were Jayden Quintana (5 points, 7 rebounds), Will Flynn (5 points, 1 blocked shot), and Jared Martinez (3 points, 1 rebound).
Both teams will continue VVAL play on Friday night at 7 PM. American Canyon will return home to face Sonoma Valley. Meanwhile, Napa will hit the road to face Petaluma.
In other VVAL games on Wednesday night, Vintage beat Sonoma Valley 79-75 in triple overtime.
