Despite amazing effort on Senior Night, American Canyon edges Vintage behind huge fourth quarter
By Kyle Foster
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There are times in sports when a team plays as well as possible and it’s just not good enough. While unfortunate, it just happens that way sometimes.
This was the case in Thursday night’s Vine Valley Athletic League boys contest as American Canyon beat Vintage, 63-59, in a nail-biter at Crusher Gym.
In the fourth quarter, the Wolves (18-7 overall, 8-3 VVAL) were able to win the game by outscoring Vintage 27-16. Before this, they trailed for the majority of the second half. They also went on a 9-0 run in the final quarter that gave them a 57-52 lead. During that time, they also forced turnovers that led to transition buckets.
American Canyon also jumped out to a 19-11 lead in the first quarter. They were able to jump out to the lead by controlling the tempo by pushing the pace of the game to a run-and-gun style. That style was also how they regained control in the fourth quarter as well.
“We couldn’t close it out,” Vintage head coach Ben Gongora explained. “We were up I think 10 and they picked up the pace. We had some turnovers and they went up. Once they went up, we kind of played a little different. I think we were trading baskets back and forth and then we put up the pressure. We came back. Heartbreaking.”
However, it also helped that Julius Wade has a massive game. He finished with a game-leading 32 points to account for more than half of the team total. Wade was hard to guard all night but scored 17 points in the first half. The senior also made 4 shots from beyond the arc and went 6 of 7 from the free-throw line. He did this even as Vintage was draped all over him trying to make it hard to score.
“Honestly, the last time we played them he was not hitting his outside shot,” Gongora explained. “So we were letting him do it and we paid for it. He hit a few threes tonight. We defended him as a slasher, not as an outside shooter, and he proved us otherwise. So that’s going to happen some nights. I don’t have any regrets. We wouldn’t change our game plan. So hats off to him.”
After that, Jack Turner finished with 13 points. This also included his lone shot made from the three-point line, which put American Canyon up 54-52 late in the game. He scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and made both free throws.
Others scoring for the Wolves were Noah Budu (7 points), Abdul Kates (4 points), Justin Laron (4 points), and Shawn Harvey (3 points).
The Crushers (10-15, 3-8 VVAL) were able to keep the game tight thanks to keeping the game in the half-court and using a zone defense. At times it appeared the zone was working by forcing long misses.
“It’s not really a set 3-2 (zone),” Gongora said. “We do a lot of help, a lot of bluff and recover, and then we’ll trap in it too. The more that the kids communicate, the more they’re aware of cutters and ball movement. I joke with the kids we don’t want to play middle school defense of the ball watchers. So man and ball work and it worked out great. For a while, they struggled to figure out the puzzle. That’s why I think they really want to start pushing tempo because in the half-court set, they struggled to score on us and then they push the tempo and they got a little run there.”
In the second quarter, they were able to get back in the game by winning the quarter 16-7. The momentum changed as well as the buzzer sounded for the break when Connor Gongora hit a shot from just inside half court to give Vintage a 27-26 lead. This was an obvious shot in the arm because they would’ve gone into the half down by two points.
“It totally was,” Gongora said of the momentum change his son gave the team heading into the halftime break. We practice those shots believe it or not. So we practice half-court shots. Frequently in practice, we’ll practice five seconds (left), two seconds (left), get the ball down, (and) three-quarter court shots. And Connor nailed one. So that was huge momentum at the buzzer to go into halftime.”
This then led to a 6-0 run out of the half to go up 33-26 as well. In the third quarter, they held their biggest lead of the game when they led by 10.
One of the main reasons they hung around for so long was the effort of Miles MacPherson. The senior finished with a team-high of 22 points and 5 rebounds. He scored 12 points in the second half, which included 10 in the third quarter. He also made both free throws.
“I love Miles,” Gongora said of MacPherson. “He’s been a joy to coach. He’s got a great attitude. He always gives me his all and he’s highly coachable. He’s one of the best players in the league. Hopefully, he’ll be recognized by the other coaches for his talents. We’ll see what happens when the awards come out or the all-league voting. But Miles has been a joy to coach he’s very coachable, always receptive to suggestions to instruction, and he’s a hard worker. So I love it that Miles is a Crusher.”
Brady Hearn finished as the team’s other double-digit scorer with 16 points and 1 rebound. The senior guard scored 12 in the second half and made 3 of 4 shots from the line.
Others scoring for Vintage in the game were Connor Gongora (7 points, 4 rebounds, blocked shot), Nate Marroquin (7 points, 2 rebounds), Jace Lopez (5 points, 2 rebounds), and Noah Akkerman (2 points).
Both teams will finish the regular season on Saturday at 7 pm. Vintage will head to Petaluma to face Casa Grande and American Canyon will host Justin-Siena. In the first meetings back on January 18th, Vintage beat Casa Grande 55-52 and Justin-Siena beat American Canyon 67-49.
On top of all of that, the game on Saturday night carries some importance as far as getting one more home game in the league tournament. If Vintage wins, they own the tie-breaker to finish 4th in the league and will host the 5 seed on Tuesday. If Casa Grande wins, they lock up the 4 seed for the first round of the VVAL tournament on Tuesday.
In other VVAL games Thursday night, Sonoma Valley beat Casa Grande 60-56 and Justin-Siena beat Petaluma 34-33. You can view the league standings here.
Vintage celebrates 8 Seniors before tip
Before the game, the Crushers honored their 8 seniors as part of their Senior Night festivities. This is a close senior group that has bought in.
“I love these players dearly,” Gongora said of the graduating seniors. “As you heard through a lot of the senior statements, we’ve been on numerous trips, whether it’s Chico, UC Santa Barbara, Oregon, St. Mary’s. That’s a lot of time we’ve spent together. We’ve been river rafting. So I’m gonna miss them. I love the kids. I appreciate them putting up with me as their coach and it’s a tremendous amount of time. There are weeks during the season, that we’re spending more time with one another than we are with our own families.”
All those honored before the game were Hearn, Lopez, Akkerman, Connor Gongora, Marroquin, Grayson Wyman, Luke Haeuser, and MacPherson.
The night was even more special for the coach as he got to celebrate the night with his son, Connor, who has been in the program all 4 years and was a captain this year.
“I got into coaching long before he was ever a thought. But that’s just made it that much sweeter,” the coach said of sharing time with his son through basketball during the last four years. “To have your own kid out here and someone that buys in, and someone that truly puts forth the maximum effort and he’s always positive and he’s always trying to improve himself. He excels in the classroom academically as well. Just having him here, it’s been fun. I’m gonna miss him. I don’t know what the future holds, but it’s been great ever since I’ve been back. He was our ball boy in middle school and just to see him grow and see him blossom into who he is, I couldn’t be prouder.”
