Half Moon Bay shoots lights out from beyond the arc to beat Napa in Denny Lewis Invitational semifinal
By Kyle Foster
Follow on X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
When a team can shoot the ball from the three-point line at a high level, it can be difficult to stop but fun to watch.
In the second semifinal of the 48th annual Denny Lewis Invitational on Friday at Messner Gym, this is exactly what Half Moon Bay did to beat Napa, 78-50.
The Cougars (3-0) took control of the game early on when it was close by going on a 9-0 run to gain an 18-10 lead. They also put on a three-point shooting display in this frame where they made 7 of them.
Three-pointers would be a theme for Half Moon Bay in this one as a whole as well. After all, they connected on 15 of them in the game. This accounted for more than half of their final point total as well.
When a team is so good at stretching the floor like this, it’s nearly impossible to defend because if you close out to stop the shot, they can go right by you. But if you try to limit them getting to the paint, they can simply shoot over any defense you try to play.
“I think they shot the shots, we wanted them to shoot, they made them tonight,” Napa High head coach Carson Carattini said. “15 threes at the high school level is not a common thing. So that’s what we wanted them to do. We don’t want to get beat in the paint. We’re a small team. So we’re gonna force you to shoot the ball from deep and if you’re making them, hats off to you. So they shot the ball well and hats off to them.”
In the first quarter, Napa (1-2) was able to keep it close and hang with Half Moon Bay. However, over the final three, the defending CIF Northern California Division 4 champions showed how they got there by outsourcing the Grizzlies 52-32.
“That’s an excellent team. We’ve got to give them credit,” Carattini explained. “We tried to do what we like to do, which is to move the basketball and play as a team on both ends of the floor, and when we’re doing those things, we can play with anybody. We’ve proved that in the offseason and we proved that by playing some of the teams we played in the past and now just maturing as a program.”
One of the main reasons Napa was even in the game was the play of Eli Mindle. The senior guard finished with a team-high 16 points with 4 rebounds. He did all of his scoring in the first half, with 13 points coming in the first quarter alone. Mindle also connected on 4 shots from beyond the arc as well in the half.
“Eli is a passionate basketball player. He loves the game,” Carattini pointed out. “ He’s always looking to improve. He spent all offseason just working on making sure he became a contributor this year, and he’s been doing it all offseason. He started off kind of slow. So tonight was not anything we didn’t expect. That’s actually what we expect from him. So we’re glad to see him kind of get out of a little bit of a rut and do what he does best.”
Finishing as the Grizzlies’ second-highest scorer in the game was Jayden Quintana. The senior added 15 points and 6 rebounds. He scored 9 points before the break as well.
Rounding out the scoring in the game for Napa were German Camacho (10 points, 3 rebounds), Christian Williams (6 points), and Will Flynn (3 points, 5 rebounds).
With the win, Half Moon Bay will now face Whitney of Rocklin for the championship on Saturday at 6:30 pm in the Denny Lewis Invitational. As for Napa, they’ll face Santa Rosa in the third-place game at 5 pm.
