Key second quarter leads Justin-Siena past Ripon Christian in first round of CIF Division 3 playoffs
By Kyle Foster
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As the season goes on, it seems like the first team to take control wins the game.
On Tuesday night at Clark Gym, this is what the No. 2 seed Justin-Siena boys did as they beat No. 15 Ripon Christian, 59-44, in the first round of the CIF Divison 3 playoffs.
In the second quarter, Justin-Siena grabbed control of the contest. During that quarter, they made it incredibly hard to drive into the lane by playing strong help defense.
“We were a little hesitant on defense in the first quarter and they were running some unordinary stuff, I would say,” Justin-Siena junior forward Charlie Vaziri explained. “We just locked down. Those moves were spinning into the hoop and we locked that down and we got into the driving lanes. I think we just played a lot better from man to zone with our one and two defense really messing them up. They weren’t hitting a lot of threes, so that helped us in the long run.”
In the second quarter, the Braves (27-3) won the quarter 13-4. This gave them a 32-17 lead going into the break. They ended the frame by going on an 8-0 run as well.
Defensively, they also shut down Ripon Christian’s top-scoring threat Jake Vander Veen who entered the contest averaging 16.7 points per game. In the first half, he was held to just 5 points before leading his team in scoring with 15 points. He also got some of the key Braves defenders in foul trouble with his driving abilities.
“He’s a tough player to guard,” Justin-Siena head coach George Nessman said of Vander Veen. “He has a great spin move and he times it very well and he was very elusive when he got into the lane. We reached at him, we pawed him a couple of times when we shouldn’t have. But most of those fouls were competitive fouls. They were they’re playing hard. They weren’t making stupid plays. He was able to move his body in such a way that it created a foul.”
The Braves put the game away with an 8-2 run to begin the second half, which gave them a 40-19 lead.
In the game, the senior duo tied for the lead in scoring as they each had 19 points. The way they did it came in vastly different ways.
Jeramaz scored 12 points in the second half and made all 5 of his free throws. He also made a pair of shots from deep.
As for Washington, he scored 10 points in the first half while making all 3 free throws in the game. He made a pair of shots from deep as well.
Finishing with a double-double was Vaziri. He finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. He scored 8 points in the first half and scored all around the rim. Another thing that helped Vaziri in the game was the threats of Washington and Jeramaz.
“Those guys came out game-planned for them, so it left me open a lot of times,” Vaziri explained. “Because they’re getting pressured and double-teamed, it left me open. So I mean, courtesy to them I scored more than I did because they were getting guarded so tight and they were willing to share the ball and they know that’s what we need to do to win and they’re great players. We wouldn’t even be here without them.”
In the game, he was a major x-factor type of player who put their team over the top.
“Well, Charlie was really impressive tonight and he’s had a lot of good games throughout the course of the season,” Nessman explained. “He’s often an X factor for us. He plays really hard. He’s a tough competitor and he got a lot done against a 6 foot 9 center and he scored inside on him and that’s pretty impressive.”
He was able to get this by being quicker than the players who were around him. He was beating Knights’ 6-foot-9 big man Jace Biedleman all night in this one by scoring all of his points around the bucket.
“Well, I just came out to play,” Vaziri said of his night. “Tough competition and the big man is tall. I thought my game wouldn’t work as well as it does because I’m an inside scorer. But he just couldn’t guard me, I guess. Pump fakes worked a lot. He was getting really jumpy. I mean, got blocked a couple of times, but just got to keep going at him. That’s the thing you’ve got to do is just keep going at him and it worked out.”
Others scoring for Justin-Siena in the game were Dallas Logwood (4 points, 1 rebound), Dylan Arnold (3 points, 1 rebound), and Asa Hightower (2 points, 1 rebound, 1 blocked shot).
In the first quarter, the Knights (24-7) were able to get off to a fast start as they took a 13-7 lead. This was the largest lead of the night for the Division 5 champions from the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section.
Despite the score, the Knights were a very worthy opponent. They came in with a 13-game winning streak. They have 13 section titles to their name as well.
“That team has won 13 section titles in their history,” Nessman explained. “We had a lot of respect for them, our guys respected (them) coming in and I thought we delivered a solid not a great performance, but a very solid performance.”
Others scoring for Ripon Christian were Biedleman (8 points), Luke Crivello (8 points), Amos Cady (5 points), Mason Tameling (4 points), and Trey Van Groningen (2 points).
With the win, Justin-Siena advances to the second round on Thursday at 7 pm where they’ll host No. 10 San Joaquin Memorial of Fresno who beat No. 7 Christian Brothers in Sacramento 66-59 on Tuesday. You can view the updated bracket here.
This is also the third straight year they have won at least one game in the regional tournament.
“I think our players are very committed to giving their best effort, learning as we go, and having a good time,” Nessman said of the streak. “We embrace that. This is fun. It should be anyway if you’re a competitive athlete and I think our guys enjoy it. It makes for a nice atmosphere and culture around our program and we’ve been able to take advantage of that the last few years and it’s been nice to be a part of.”
