Justin-Siena takes control of game by ending first quarter on big run, gets solid games from key players to beat Napa
By Kyle Foster
Follow on X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Basketball is a momentum game. Anytime you swing it your way, it goes a long way towards getting the win. There are times when one play changes a whole game as well.
In Tuesday night’s VVAL contest, this is what Justin-Siena did as they beat Napa, 57-38, at Messner Gym to stay unbeaten in league play.
The Braves took control of the game early in the first quarter. After facing a short 3-1 deficit early, they finished that frame by going on a 17-3 run to all but take control of the game.
“We just tried to play it one play at a time, and runs will happen when you concentrate on not making runs,” Justin-Siena head coach and athletic director George Nessman explained. “Just playing the game one possession at a time. Napa can really shoot the ball. The three ball kept them close for a long time and we got a little separation there in the second half and from there closed them out to 38 points defensively which is pretty good.”
It also helped that they had a bit more efficient offense in the game as well. Whether it’s an extra pass or taking a good look when they have it, Justin-Siena (17-3 overall, 8-0 VVAL) did just a little bit more to beat some good defense in the game.
“We had a little frustration,” Nessman said as to how his team was able to slowly pull away. “We missed some shots early in the game that I think we normally make. There’s a couple little frustration displays like we kinda botched those. Those don’t help anything.”
One of the reasons they were able to pull away was the defense they played to stop the three-pointers from killing them. After all, Napa (8-13, 3-5 VVAL) has the offensive weapons capable of making a bunch of shots from all over the court.
“It’s hard because they can spread you out, and they can shoot it,” Nessman said of the challenge to slow down the good-shooting Grizzlies. “That’s their basic strategy offensively and we challenged our guys ‘Look, you have to defend the drive and you’ve got to defend three-pointers.’ And that’s not easy to do. I think for the most part we were able to do it.”
Leading the way for Justin-Siena in the game was Jaden Washington. The senior center finished with a game-high of 19 points and 3 rebounds. He scored 11 points in the second half and made both free throws in the game.
It also helped that Nick Jeramaz had a nice game as well. The senior guard finished with 18 points. He scored half of his points in the first quarter with 9 and finished the first half with 11 points. Jeramaz also made 6 of 7 free throws in the game.
Others scoring for the Braves in the game were Charlie Vaziri (8 points, 2 rebounds), Chase Briskovich (7 points, 3 rebounds), Asa Hightower (3 points, 1 rebound), and Andrew Grimshaw (2 points, 1 rebound).
Napa had a hard time getting into an offensive rhythm in the game. They would go on runs to cut the lead down but could never find a way to go over the hump. In the second half, they were able to get within 10 and not get any closer.
It also didn’t help that a procedural technical kept the first quarter spiraling in the first quarter. At that point, it was just a six-point game as well.
“We had kind of an unfortunate first quarter there, it kind of put us in a hole,” Napa High head coach Carson Carratini said. “There was a rules violation and gave him the ball for a minute and played with a lead and took advantage of it and executed their game plan and we executed ours at times but certainly not enough.”
The Grizzlies also had lower point totals than normal in this one. Leading the way was the senior duo of Jayden Quintana and Christian Williams who each had 10 points to lead the way.
“They threw some different stuff at us defensively,” Carattini explained. “They wanted to control the tempo and I thought they did a good job of that taking us out of transition. I know a lot of teams want to do that to us. So to be able to slow us down and make us have to kind of think and move the ball around, that’s what they want to do, and I thought they did a good job of that.”
Williams scored 7 points in the first half while going 2 of 4 from the line and grabbing 3 rebounds.
As for Quintana, he scored 6 points in the first half and grabbed 2 rebounds with a blocked shot as well.
Others scoring for Napa in the game were Will Flynn (7 points, 4 rebounds, blocked shot), Eli Mindle (6 points, 1 rebound), and Gael Bazoungissa (5 points, 1 rebound, blocked shot).
Both teams will continue league play this week. Napa will host American Canyon on Thursday night at 7 pm. Justin-Siena will have the league bye before hosting Casa Grande on Saturday at 7 pm.
In the last meetings, American Canyon beat Napa 51-34 on January 8th and Justin-Siena beat Casa Grande 58-33 on January 10th.
The game against Casa Grande will be a bit more special as former assistant coach Nick Guillory is the head coach there. He led the Braves to the CIF Division 4 title game back in 2022 as the interim head coach.
“Nick’s a fine coach and I really enjoyed working with him,” Nessman said of the game against Casa Grande who lost 54-41 to American Canyon on Tuesday night. “I really enjoyed working with him and I know our guys like him a great deal and we have a lot of respect for him and Casa Grande.”
In the other league game on Tuesday night, Petaluma edged Vintage 44-35. You can view the updated league standings here.
