Justin-Siena gets going at end of first quarter with massive run to gain separation and beat American Canyon in battle of league’s top two teams
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
There are some teams that you don’t want to let get any tiny bit of momentum going because it could lead to an onslaught once they get going.
We saw this on Monday night at the Daniel J. Clark Gym when the Justin-Siena boys’ basketball team cruised past their closest Vine Valley Athletic League foe, American Canyon, 72–51.
After a bit of a slow start, Justin-Siena (19-2 overall, 7-0 VVAL) were able to get the offense going quite easily as they went on a 25-4 that gave them a 27-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“I don’t know so much changed, we just kept playing,” Justin-Siena head coach and athletic director George Nessman said of how his squad overcame a bit of a slow start. “We have a lot of respect for American Canyon, they play really hard. They have good shooters, good, good scores. We just tried to stay with what we’re doing well. We try not to get distracted as a group and stay the course and just stay after it. And that’s what we did, and eventually, we were able to break through.”
The Braves were also able to extend the gap to 56-33 at the end of three quarters after they held American Canyon to just three points. They ended that frame on an 11-0 run as well.
“We made some changes defensively,” Nessman said of the defensive adjustments his team made at the break. “We switched some assignments, and we changed some of our covers in terms of what they were doing, and it helped a little bit. But really, it was a matter of our guys knuckling down and competing a little harder defensively.”
Justin-Siena also ended the night with a trio of double-digit scorers, which has been a common occurrence this season.
Leading all of them was Travis Hightower. He was a tad bit more effective in the second half, where he scored 13 points. The senior also converted on three shots from beyond the arc while making 4 of 6 free throws.
“I was getting a lot of good looks for my teammates,” Hightower explained. “So I feel like that really helped my performance, then looking for me, and I was able to perform when they gave me the ball.”
Finishing the night as the Braves’ second-highest scorer was Jaden Washington. The junior forward added 11 points, 3 rebounds, and blocked a shot. He scored 6 points after the break and made 3 of 4 free throws.
“Jaden’s been doing that constantly for over a month now, well back into the non-conference portion of our schedule,” Nessman said of the junior that comes off the bench. “Jaden’s a good basketball player and he’s solid. He’s a smart, tough competitor, and he brings a lot to the table for us no question.”
Ma’el Blunt ended the night with 10 points and 6 rebounds. The senior guard did the majority of his scoring in the first half when he scored 6 points.
Others scoring for Justi-Siena were Vince Jackson (8 points, 5 rebounds), Nick Jeremaz (6 points, 6 rebounds), Asher Cleary (5 points, 3 rebounds), DJ Ryan (3 points), Nate Spare (2 points, 1 rebound), and Jackson Dunkley (2 points).
The Wolves (12-9, 5-2 VVAL) had their moments of brilliance in the contest. After all, they began the game on a 10-2 run.
American Canyon also finished the first half on a 7-0 run that made it 38-30 at the break.
“They just got themselves under control,” American Canyon head coach Scott Hayburn explained. “We were up 10-2, they outscored us 25-4 and I feel like during that run, we were becoming very frazzled. Once we regrouped, executed again, (and) got good looks, we played our brand new basketball and that’s what was able to make it a game.”
Also having a nice game in this one was CJ Mitchell. The senior guard finished with a team-high of 15 points. He scored all of his points prior to halftime and made 3 shots from three-point land.
“When his shot’s going, he’s pretty unguardable,” Hayburn said of Mitchell. “I was proud of the way he played in the first half. Second half, I assume they made adjustments. They knew that what was beating them was CJ shooting the basketball and they took that away and they did a real good job of it.”
After that, scoring was sparse for the Wolves. They didn’t have anyone else finish the night with double-digit point totals.
Both teams will continue VVAL action this week. Justin-Siena will visit Vintage on Wednesday night at 7 PM. As for American Canyon, they’ll have the league bye Wednesday night before visiting Casa Grande on Friday night at 7 PM.
In the last meetings, Justin-Siena beat Vintage 67-33 on January 6th and American Canyon beat Casa Grande 69-59 on January 9th.
In other VVAL games Monday night, Vintage beat Casa Grande 70-64, and Sonoma Valley beat Napa 62-56. You can view the updated league standings here.
