Justin-Siena plays lockdown defense to begin second half that gets offense going to beat Casa Grande in a grinder
By Kyle Foster
Follow on X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Throughout a season, there will be times when you have to battle through adversity to win. Not every game is going to be easy, even if you are the better team.
In Saturday night’s Vine Valley Athletic League contest at Clark Gym, this was the case for the Justin-Siena boys’ basketball team as they had to grind out a 63-41 victory over Casa Grande-Petaluma.
Throughout the game, the Braves (18-3 overall, 9-0 VVAL) had a hard time getting any rhythm on offense going as the game was very choppy.
However, out of the half, Justin-Siena then went on a 12-0 run to push the lead to 21 and take control of the game in the third quarter. One of the things that led to this was the fact they were able to slow down the shots being made from the three-point line, which kept the game interesting in the first half.
“I thought we just were concentrating much better on the ball,” Justin-Siena head coach and athletic director George Nessman said of the second-half defense that changed that game. “ They weren’t taking us off the bounce as much and we got out to their shooters and really challenged them and made it tough on him.”
Another thing that changed the game in the second half was the fact that the Braves offense was looking like its normal self. While part of this was making shots, the other part was they were making the right decisions leading to buckets.
Because of the good decisions, the main beneficiary was Nick Jeramaz. The senior guard finished with a game-high 23 points and 4 rebounds. He scored 12 points in the first half and went 2 of 5 at the free-throw line.
“Nick’s hard to hold down for a whole game and he’s eventually going to make some shots,” Nessman said of Jeramaz. “I thought we executed our sets way better in the second half and we got some good clean looks out of our set offenses that we run, various plays and whatnot that we run. Nick’s a beneficiary a lot of those, and they’re targeted to go to Nick, and he knocked down shots.”
Also having a nice game was Jaden Washington. The senior center finished with 17 points and 6 rebounds. Washington got going in the second half as he scored 11 points. He also made 5 of 7 free throws in the game.
Others scoring for Justin-Siena in the game were Andrew Grimshaw (8 points, 4 rebounds), Dylan Arnold (5 points), Dallas Logwood (3 points, 1 rebound), Asa Hightower (2 points, 4 rebounds), Charlie Vaziri (2 points, 4 rebounds), Xiano Ortega (2 points, 1 rebound), and Bradley Bautista (2 points).
Casa Grande (9-15, 4-6 VVAL) was able to keep the game tight in the first half due to playing physical and making it hard for the offense to get going.
“They’re so good at off-ball cutting and if they just get free cuts, that’s their game,” Casa Grande first-year head coach and former Justin-Siena assistant Nick Guillory said of the physicality his team played with during the first half. “So we wanted to be physical at the point of attack and sort of kind of bring the game to them. Because when they can dictate the tempo and Andrew (Grimshaw) up they’re finding cutters, (it’s) impossible to stop. So physicality was one of our key points for sure.”
They also made 5 shots from beyond the arc in the first half to keep the game close at the break. In the second half, they made just one shot from the three-point line.
“First, their defense,” Guillory added. “We couldn’t score. They’re so solid defensively. We run a lot of ball screens, and they were solid on everyone. So we had long possessions that we couldn’t get anything and then they got quick run outs and their playmakers made plays.”
Scoring for the Gauchos in the game was Ryan Rice (9 points on 3 three-pointers), Jake Barlow (8 points), Jeffrey Rice (7 points), Andon Harris (7 points), Luke Bell (5 points), David Isola (3 points), and Phillip Liu (2 points).
This was also a bit of a homecoming for Guillory. While his team had played games in Napa earlier in the league season, this was his first game back at Justin-Siena, the place where he got his start as a coach.
“It was a great feeling because the relationship you built last, the test of time,” Guillory said of returning to coach against Justin-Siena. “So seeing those guys is really good feeling they’re having a great season. I’m happy for them as individuals and athletes, so wish they took a little easier on us tonight. But that’s what you get with a team of that caliber and those kids. So it was good to be back.”
Both teams will continue the league season this week. Justin-Siena will host Sonoma Valley on Tuesday night at 7 pm. Casa Grande will have the league by before hosting Sonoma Valley on Thursday night.
In the first meeting on January 12th, Justin-Siena beat Sonoma Valley 72-45, and on January 16th, Casa Grande beat Sonoma Valley 60-55.
Other VVAL action on Saturday night saw American Canyon beat Sonoma Valley 54-42 and Petaluma beat Napa 65-47. You can view the league standings here.
