American Canyon pulls away in second half to beat Vintage in defensive slugfest
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
There will always be a game where the breaks just don’t go your way and you come out drawing the wrong end of the stick in a winnable game. That’s just the nature of sports.
On Friday night anticipated Vine Valley Athletic League matchup at Crusher Gym, it was the hosts coming up short as they dropped a battle against American Canyon, 61-45.
The Wolves (12-7 overall, 5-1 VVAL) were able to take control of the game in the second half, where they outscored Vintage 37-18. They went on a 7-2 run to begin the third quarter and take the lead that they would never relinquish the rest of the way. A big reason for that was the fact they were able to use their full-court press, which forced Vintage into making some very risky decisions and leading to easy buckets. They turned the ball over 15 times while forcing the Crushers into 23 of them.
“We like to play fast, and that press allows us to do that,” American Canyon senior guard Jake Laron said of the fast start in the second half where the Wolves utilized the press. “We’re all fast players. We don’t have any slow players on the team so we can all rotate quickly and hit balls and running the break, that’s only good for us.”
In the second half, American Canyon was also able to connect on a bit more three-pointers. They made 7 of 17 in the contest. However, they were able to convert on long-range shots at the perfect time in the second half.
“I hate it,” American Canyon head coach Scott Hayburn admitted about the three-point shooting. “You live by the three, you die by the three. I wish we could manufacture points and in other ways. Because when the shots cool off, I mean, we saw in the first half we couldn’t hit and the result was a one-point deficit at halftime. So I hate the idea that our game may come down to whether or not we happen to be on a given night. I don’t like taking that chance.”
The final key to winning for American Canyon was the fact they had a trio of double-digit scorers. Leading them all was Noah Budu. The junior finished with a game-high of 15 points. Budu was all over the court until getting his second technical foul in the fourth quarter, meaning he’ll have to sit out Saturday’s game at Montgomery-Santa Rosa, a 2:30 PM start.
Laron added 14 points to help the cause. Nathaniel Espejo was the last of the three with 12 points in the contest.
“We have a lot of weapons,” Hayburn said. “I’m blessed in that sense. It’s nice to have a lot of people who can put the ball in the basket because it means you can’t just take one of our players away and today was another example that.”
Vintage (11-9, 3-3 VVAL) was able to keep the game close early on. After all, they went into the break leading 27-26.
A large reason for that was that they stuck to their game plan, which was to keep the game in the halfcourt and not run and gun.
“Just control time and score, control tempo, just try to dictate pace,” Vintage head coach Ben Gongora said as to what his team did in the first half to keep it close. “Really, the kids know these kids better than I do. But they play with each other. We’ve watched film, and I came up with a game plan, and I think it was a game plan that this was a winnable game for us. It didn’t happen.”
In the game, the Crushers were led by Si Sabbagha. The junior guard finished with 12 points and brought in 7 rebounds. Sabbagha scored 8 points in the first half of this one while making 5 of 6 shots from the free-throw line.
“Si is improving,” Gongora explained. “He still has a long way to go. I think for Si, sometimes he gets a bit frantic. I think sometimes he gets excited and that can lead to poor decisions. I’m trying to get him to calm down, slow down.”
Miles MacPherson finished with 11 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. The junior forward did all of his damage in the first half while connecting on a pair of shots from beyond the arc.
Durfee finished with 10 points and 4 rebounds. He was great out of the break, as he scored 9 points in the second half of this one. The senior guard also went 1-for-2 from the line.
“Collin is the ultimate teammate,” Gongora said of Durfee and what he brings to the team. “Whether he’s on the bench, whether he’s injured whether he’s on the court, he just gives you his all. If he’s on the bench, he’s cheering. If he’s on the court, he’s giving you his all and he’s very coachable. He’s highly intelligent. He’s not fancy.”
Others scoring for the Crushers were Elias Alvarez (6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocked shots), and Jace Lopez (6 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block).
Both teams will begin the second part of league play on Monday night at 7 PM with games in Napa. American Canyon will make its last trip to Napa to face Justin-Siena in a battle for first place. Vintage will play yet another home game when they host Casa Grande.
In other VVAL action on Friday night, Justin-Siena beat Petaluma 56-41 and Sonoma Valley beat Casa Grande 72-51. You can view the updated league standings here.
