Mendocino uses late run to get lead, edge Napa Valley in nail-biter despite a good effort
By Kyle Foster
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
In close games, you must be perfect to close the deal.
On Thursday night at Storm Gym, Mendocino barely beat Napa Valley, 73-70, in a Bay Valley Conference contest.
Mendocino (8-7, 1-2 BVC) was able to win the game after trailing at various times. They came back thanks to a 9-1 run in the second half to tie things at 65 with 2:29 to go in the game. During this time, they also continued to go to the basket, which led to a bunch of shots at the line as the contest came to an end.
“Confidence,” Napa Valley College head coach Steve Ball said as to what the difference was in the game. “They believed they were going to win and we believed we were going to lose.”
Despite this, the whole reason why it was a game was the fact that the Eagles only made 5 shots from deep in the whole game. But Mendocino did a good job of using pick and rolls to get buckets when they needed to.
“I thought we forced them into some difficult shots,” Ball said of the defensive effort. “I felt like defensively, we did a good job of, executing out of our traps and making them make indecisive or too quick of decisions and taking too quick of shots. Now we got to come away with the defensive rebound on that, and they did a much better job on the offensive glass than we would have liked. So we need to clean that one up.”
One other thing that was a major difference was the fact that they made 20 of 30 shots at the line. These especially came in key as the game came to an end.
However, Napa Valley (1-14, 0-3 BVC) was able to stay with Mendocino for the whole game after a bit of a slow start. They took their first lead of the game with 8:13 left in the first half when they reeled off a 14-0 run to go up 23-18.
During this time, they used a man-to-man press which helped get a bunch of turnovers and keep the game close.
“We pressed and we picked up full,” Ball explained of the press and how it helped them get control of the game in the first half. “We also just stopped settling and our ball security was increased. So when the ball was loose, we won the 50/50 balls in that two minutes.”
The Storm also left plenty of points on the court as they were 12 of 18 from the free-throw line. The majority of their shots were missed in the first half, where the momentum of the contest could’ve changed going into the break.
Napa Valley also got a massive game from Jayden Robinson. The freshman finished with a game-high 18 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Robinson scored 11 points in the second half and made all 4 shots from the line. He also made 4 shots from downtown.
“He doesn’t make mistakes,” Ball said of Robinson’s game. “So that’s the thing, one right is if you have possession of the basketball, they don’t. So he makes good reads and good plays. He’s not super twitchy with his movements. He’s just very solid and sound and his body’s strong.”
Finishing with 16 points and 5 rebounds in the game was Chris Farrington. The sophomore scored 12 points in the first half and made 1 of 2 shots from the stripe. He did most of his damage off the bench as well.
The Storm also had E’Jay Rogers score 10 points and bring in 3 rebounds. He scored 6 points in the first half and made 2 of 4 shots from the line.
“I think he defends really well,” Ball said of Rogers. “He can shoot the three, he can make some shots, but that’s not his go-to. I think he’s he’s much more efficient when he’s getting downhill and making spontaneous and instinctive decisions.”
Rounding out the scoring for Napa Valley in the game was Nate Broome (8 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocked shots), Jamari Taylor (7 points, 3 rebounds), Hassan Flemming (5 points, 3 rebounds), Jerard Jackson (3 points), and Royal Freeman (3 points).
The Storm will continue BVC action on Saturday at 1 pm when they Los Medano-Pittsburg.
