Solano roars back from massive deficit to stun Napa County in thriller in first-ever high school All-Star Game
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
A high school basketball All-Star Game has never happened before around here. For the longest time, this has been nothing but a concept in space.
On Saturday afternoon at Napa Valley College’s Storm Gym, it was Solano County who had to come from behind to beat host Napa County, 97-92, in the first-ever All-Star Game put on by 707 Premier Sports, Signal the Light Basketball, and Simply Basketball.
Solano County took control of the game over the last minute and a half of the game with it tied at 88 when they went on a 6-0 run to take a 94-88 lead. Napa County was unable to match the scoring down the stretch and American Canyon’s CJ Mitchell put the game away when he converted both free throws in a 1-and-1 situation.
Another reason Solano prevailed in the game was the fact that the game was played under college rules instead of high school rules. Because of this, players on both sides were exhausted after having to play an extra 8 minutes without the stoppage they normally get at the end of the quarters.
Napa also made 14 of 22 free throws in the game. They missed the majority of them down the stretch when the game was hanging in the balance.
That run was part of a half where they outscored Napa 62-31. It also helped that Rodriguez’s Jerel Victor took over for Solano in the game. For this reason, he was named the game’s MVP. Also on Solano County’s roster was Donovan Saiyad from Vallejo, Armijo’s Trevor Morris Benicia’s James Wong, Rodriguez’s Victor, Zach Shamieh, and Joseph Gould, and Vanden’s Sterling McClanhan, and EJ Rogers.
Solano took their first lead of the game with 4:05 left in the game to go up 88-87. Up until that point, they were hunting down Napa County as the lead got smaller and smaller. When they got their lone lead, they didn’t give it up.
“I think it was definitely the energy,” Justin-Siena’s Vince Jackson explained. “Solano came out with way different energy compared to the first half we didn’t really respond well to it until like later in the in the half.”
Before that, Napa County dominated the first half. After all, the hosts led 61-35 at the break.
They were able to gain the large lead thanks to multiple runs throughout the first half.
The host county went on a 7-0 run early in the first half to gain a 15-7 lead.
Napa County vaulted out to a double-digit lead when they went on a 9-0 run. They bumped the lead to 57-29 thanks to a huge 18-0 burst. At this point, it appeared the game was going to be a snoozer.
“I think we were just we had some fresh legs in the first half 20-minute halves, that’s a long game,” Vintage’s Ben Jackson said of playing for a longer duration and its impact on the game and how Napa gained a large first-half lead. “It’s a long game and none of us have ever played that before. So we have some fresh legs and we were playing defensive and rebounding really nicely.”
Leading the scoring for Napa County in the game was Travis Hightower of Justin-Siena. The Vine Valley Athletic League Player of the Year finished the game with a whopping 35 points to go along with 9 rebounds. Hightower was a monster in the first half where he scored 27 points. The Chico State signee also made 8 of 13 free throws in the contest.
“It was a ton of fun,” Ben Jackson explained of playing with other top talents in town. “Even though we lost, it was a bad ending. I still had a ton of fun. I’m grateful I was out there and play with those guys. Travis, Vince, Asher, all those guys, it was so fun to finally team up with them after all those years.”
Adding to the cause for Napa was Vince Jackson, also from VVAL champion Justin-Siena. He finished with a double-double of 26 points and 13 rebounds. He too was hot in the first half as he scored 14 points before the break. Jackson didn’t miss a free throw all game as he was a perfect 4 of 4 from the line. Jackson was first-team All-VVAL last season.
“It was really fun,” Vince Jackson said of getting a double-double in his last-ever high school game. “I live in Solano. So I was able to play against some of my older teammates. So it was really fun.”
The last double-digit scorer for Napa County was Ma’el Blunt from Justin-Siena. The guard finished with 16 points and 3 rebounds. The Howard commit scored 8 points in each half and went 1-for-3 at the line. Blunt was also a first-team All-VVAL member this past winter as well.
Vintage’s Ben Jackson finished with 7 points and brought in 6 rebounds. He scored 4 points in the first half and made 1 of 2 free throws. Jackson was the VVAL Defensive Player of the Year this season.
Others scoring for Napa in the game were Calum Rutherford of Analy in Sebastapol who had 4 points and 10 rebounds, St. Helena’s Charlie Knight (2 points, 3 rebounds), Sonoma Valley’s Grant Boydell, a VVAL first-team member (2 points, 2 rebounds), and Sonoma Valley’s JC Olvera (2 points). Napa’s Jared Martinez was also on the squad and he brought in a pair of rebounds. The team was led by Napa High head coach Carson Carattini.
Solano was led by Benicia’s head coach, Steven Carter. In the junior college game, Erv Anderson from Diablo Valley in Pleasant Hill led NorCal Elite, and Keenan McMiller from Chabot-Hayward led NorCal Premier. Napa Valley College was represented by Cameron Joseph on Elite and Albert Dennis on Premier. Each team had one practice before playing the game on Saturday night.
There was also a dunk contest between the two games. The junior college game ended with a 122-121 score that saw Premier win. At halftime of the high school game, 707 Premier 5th graders took the court for a 5-minute game.
