Justin-Siena goes on big run in second quarter to beat Ygnacio Valley in physical contest, punch ticket to CIF North Coast Section championship game
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
As the basketball season, goes it should come as no surprise that the games are extremely tight and hard to win.
But man, the game has become great to watch as well. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the CIF North Coast Section Division 4 semifinal on Wednesday night was a battle most of that way that saw the No. 2 seed Justin-Siena boys basketball team beat No. 3 Ygnacio Valley of Concord, 71-60, at the Daniel J. Clark Gym.
In the first half, Ygancio Valley (21-6) was able to hang around and make it hard on the hosts. They were able to do this due to some good inside-out play as the ball was going down into the 6-foot-10 junior center Evan McKnight who scored 8 of his 12 points in the first half while also kicking it out to shooters for good looks from beyond the arc. The Wolves also showed off their team speed in the first quarter as they were jumping into passing lanes and forcing mistakes.
“They’re a very well-coached team,” Justin-Siena head coach and athletic director George Nessman explained. “They’re very structured defensively and they play hard. They’ve got good quickness, four guys on the court were very quick and they’ve got a 6-foot-10 center to protect around the rim. They’re a well-built team and they were a tough opponent for us no doubt and they caused some trouble for us as good teams will. We got punched a couple of times. We kept punching back and we were able to get it done.”
The Braves were also having a hard time scoring buckets inside early on as well, which is one of the reasons the offense sputtered at the beginning of the game. As the game went on, the Braves were able to score more in the paint.
“I think I think we just stayed after it,” Nessman said of getting buckets in the key. “We kept going down inside and kept creating opportunities and eventually we broke through and we’re able to convert a number of them.”
However, Justin-Siena (26-4) was able to respond very well in the second quarter, which is when they went on a massive 18-6 run that gave them a 37-24 lead. That run lasted the first four minutes of the second quarter. It would be shortlived too as the Wolves reeled off a 12-4 run to end the first half, with it being 41-36 at the half.
“Well, we switch some assignments,” Nessman said as to what changed in the second. “Part of those by foul necessity, we change who was guarding who and I think we did a better job on number 11 (Loyal Morris) and we contained their dribble better in the second quarter and early the game. We contained their dribble better in the second quarter. Early in the game, they were attacking us off the bounce very effectively and I think we prevented that much better as the game proceeded.”
It also helped that Travis Hightower was simply a matchup nightmare. After all, he finished with a game-high of 29 points and 6 rebounds. Hightower was unguardable in the first half where he scored 16 of those points, 12 of which were in the first quarter. He also made 9 of 12 free throws in the game.
“It was cool,” Hightower said of his monster game. “I was flowing off my teammates. If they got me the ball, then I’d try to go into the paint and score.”
It also helped that other key members stepped up in the contest to add double figures in points. One of those was Vince Jackson who finished with 14 points and brought in 9 rebounds. The senior forward scored 8 points before the break and was able to connect on a plethora of shots from the mid-range.
The other double-digit scorer was Jaden Washington. He finished with 13 points, 4 rebounds, and a blocked shot in the game. The junior center scored 8 of those points in the first half. Yet that wasn’t his most important impact on the game. He was tasked with guarding McKnight for the majority of the game. In the second half, Washington held him to just 4 points.
“Really key because we needed big shots and they provide like good shots at like crucial points,” Hightower said of the importance of Jackson and Washington in the contest.
Rounding out the scoring for Justin-Siena were Ma’el Blunt (8 points), Asher Cleary (5 points, 7 rebounds), and DJ Ryan (2 points).
With the victory, the Braves will be doing something that they didn’t do last season – play for the section title. On Saturday night at Kezar Pavillion at 8 pm, Justin-Siena will meet the top-seeded University of San Francisco. The Red Devils (27-3) beat No. 4 Marin Catholic 82-42 on Wednesday night. Ygnacio Valley will find out their fate for the CIF State playoffs on Sunday. You can view the updated bracket here.
