Napa starts fast to gain momentum, gets good games from Williams and Mindle to beat Vintage and get first Big Game win in four years
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
Follow on X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
In rivalry series, there will be times when one team goes on a run and then at some point it turns. In other cases, the games are split every year. No matter how it happens, rivalries are meant to go in waves.
On Friday night at Messner Gym, the Napa High boys basketball team broke a losing streak that dated back to 2020 when they beat rival Vintage, 47-43, in the first Big Game of the season.
With the win, the Grizzlies also snapped a nine-game Big Game losing streak dating back to 2020. Before this, the last time they had won Big Game was when they won the inaugural VVAL title back in 2019.
“Obviously, it feels good to win,” Napa High head coach Carson Caratinni said of snapping the losing streak. “We were at a three-game losing streak in league, so that was something we wanted to get off our back. Obviously, this game means a lot to a lot of people. But we talked about all the time, every game is important and we want to just approach it that way.”
In the game, Napa (6-11, 2-3 VVAL) never trailed in this game as well. At one point, the Grizzlies held an 11-point lead, which was their biggest of the night.
“I mean, we’ve been talking about confidence and individual effort and individual ability,” Caratinni said of the fast start. “I think one thing for us is just gaining that confidence. After not playing well the other night against Petaluma, we wanted to make that an emphasis over the last 48 hours and just being confident. So I think you saw that from the get-go from start to finish.”
The Grizzlies also got a nice effort in the game from senior guard Christian Williams. He finished with a game-high 15 points with 2 rebounds. He scored 12 of those in the first half. He also made 5 of 6 free throws, none of which were more important than with 2.5 seconds left in the game when he gave Napa a two-score lead.
“Christian is great,” Caratinni said of Williams. “ I mean, his consistency, what his attitude is toughness as a senior, his leadership always shows and when he sees the ball go in, his confidence level goes way up. So when he gets a couple of early ones, you know that that’s, that’s a good sign for our team.”
Also having a nice night was Eli Mindle. The senior guard finished with 13 points, 6 rebounds, and a blocked shot. He scored 8 points in the second half and made both of his free throws.
However, this win was a little bit more sweet as he started off at Vintage before transferring to Napa. Winning Big Game was something he wanted to do before graduating.
“Feels great,” Mindle said of beating his former squad. “That was my mindset the whole season. I just wanted to beat Vintage and scratch that off the bucket list.”
Others scoring for Napa in the game were Jayden Quintana (8 points, 4 rebounds), Gael Bazoungissa (7 points, 4 rebounds), and Will Flynn (4 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocked shots).
One of the reasons Vintage (8-10, 1-3 VVAL) was never really in the game was the slow first half. They were down just two points after the first quarter but then found themselves down by nine as the game went to the break.
“I think we just didn’t get going,” Vintage head coach Ben Gongora said of the slow start, which bit his team. “I can’t believe it. We just did not play well in the first half and it was kind of lackadaisical pedestrian, if you will. In the second half, we played like dictating tempo, and I think we have yet to play a game where we played a full four quarters. Unfortunately, this one cost us a game.”
It also didn’t help that the Crushers had a hard time making free throws in the game where they made just 4 of 12 shots from the line.
However, they were able to go on a 6-0 burst that cut the lead to one with 29.8 seconds left. At this moment, they also had a chance to take their first lead.
“We had a chance to win the game on the last shot,” Gongora explained. “I’m proud of the player that took it. Some people would be too scared to take that shot, right? Packed house down two, you make it you’re the hero. You miss it, you’re the goat. Not the goat that they know, you know the scapegoat. But he took it, he took it and it didn’t go in. But the game shouldn’t have came down to that.”
In the game, the Crushers were led by Jace Lopez. The senior guard finished with a team-high of 11 points and 3 rebounds. He scored 8 points after the break.
After that, Nate Marroquin and Brady Hearn each tallied 10 points. Marroquin had 7 points in the first half while going 1 of 4 from the line. As for Hearn, he did all of his damage in the second half and went 1 of 2 from the line.
Rounding out the scoring for Vintage were Miles MacPherson (5 points, 5 rebounds), Connor Gongora (5 points, 2 rebounds), and Luke Haeuser (2 points, 5 rebounds).
Both teams will continue league play next week. Vintage will visit American Canyon on Tuesday night at 7 pm. As for Napa, they’ll visit Sonoma Valley on Thursday at 7 pm.
In other VVAL action on Friday night, Justin-Siena beat Sonoma Valley 72-45 and American Canyon beat Petaluma 46-45.
