Casa Grande makes shots, gets offense going out of half to go on huge run and beat Justin-Siena to end long VVAL streak
By Kyle Foster
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
These league games are won on the margins and all it takes is one stretch to win a game. These games are that close.
On Wednesday night, Casa Grande-Petaluma used a massive third quarter to beat Justin-Siena, 61-42, in a Vine Valley Athletic League game played at the Daniel J. Clark Gym.
The Gauchos (8-8 overall, 3-0 VVAL) took control of the contest to begin the second half when they went on a huge 15-0 scoring run to gain a 44-28 lead.
During this stretch, Casa Grande was moving the ball, which helped the offense be so hard to stop.
“We got back to what we at and that’s moving the ball, sharing it, trying to get multiple closeouts and attack,” Casa Grande head coach Nick Guillory said as to how his team was able to separate in the third quarter. “Once we started doing that, Lane started to open up, and we started to make shots. I think in the first half, we were stagnant, playing a lot of one-on-one basketball. They’re so athletic, they’re hard to get by without an advantage and that kind of played right into their hand, which is why it was so tight in the beginning.”
Before that, the Gauchos could fight back early on and go on a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the game in the first quarter after facing an early deficit.
“It’s a really good team and awesome program going down 8-0 at their place, I think in the beginning of the year, would have had a shell shock,” Guillory explained. “But this group has matured a lot over the last couple months, and once we saw the first one go through, I called a time-out, and just kind of got our heads in it and realized that the level we needed to play at was not acceptable just started to get a little looser.”
It also helped that Ryan Rice was nearly unguardable on the night for the visitors. After all, the senior finished with a game-high 21 points on 7 shots from beyond the arc. He scored 15 points in the second half as well.
“You know what’s interesting about Ryan is he’s always had that. But this year, he’s shooting 58% from two and has been great at getting to the rim,” Guillory said of Rice who was on a tear in the game. “I think he’s expanded his game from last year, but tonight I think just shows what he’s capable of when he gets hot, and we have full confidence in him to let it fly.”
Also finishing in double figures in the game for Casa Grande was David Isola who scored 14 points in the game. The sophomore scored 10 of those in the first half and made two shots from deep.
As for Justin-Siena (3-8, 1-1 VVAL), they were able to take control of the game at the start of the game when they went on an 8-0 run and immediately looked to be in control. During that time, they were playing strong defense as well.
“We just had a lot of energy,” Justin-Siena first-year head coach Corey Battle said of the fast start to the game for his team. “We made some shots. When we have good energy, we play pretty good on both ends. Normally, it translates.”
But in the third quarter when the game got away, it was as if there was a lid on the bucket. In that period, the Braves scored four points.
“They executed, they made shots,” Battle said of the third quarter. “We did not. For a while, I think we were stuck on 32 for about six and a half minutes.”
It was also a down night for the offense. After all, Justin-Siena didn’t have one scorer in double figures in the game.
Leading the Braves in the game was a pair of players with 9 points.
One of those was Asa Hightower who finished with 9 points and 4 rebounds. He scored 7 of those in the first half.
Bradley Bautista also finished with 9 points while bringing in 2 rebounds. He also scored 7 points in the first half and made both free throws in the game.
Rounding out the scoring for Justin-Siena was Josh Madayag (6 points, 2 rebounds), Xiano Ortega (5 points, 9 rebounds), Dom Pucci (5 points, 2 rebounds), Alejandro Perryman (3 points, 2 rebounds), Alex Winske (2 points, 1 rebound), Armani Vargas (1 point, 3 rebounds).
With the win, Casa Grande ends what was a 25-game VVAL winning streak that the Braves had been on dating back to 2023. It’s also poetic and full circle for Guillory who had a major hand in starting the winning streak.
“It kind of is (a full circle moment) and I have nothing in my heart but gratitude and Justin has a special place in my heart,” Guillory said of being the one to end the dominating streak and how gratifying it is as he was the assistant coach in 2023 when the streak began. “It’s where I started. I learned from coach (George) Nessman, coach (Dave) Granucci, four former players came to watch the game, and those relationships are strong. So it was great. But I’d be lying if I said this one didn’t feel a little extra special coming here and getting a win.”
Both teams will be back in action on Saturday at 5:30 pm. Justin-Siena will host Vintage and Casa Grande will host Napa.
In other VVAL games on Wednesday night, Napa High beat Casa Grande 43-39 and Sonoma Valley beat American Canyon 51-39.
