Napa uses strong shooting, second quarter run to gain advantage and beat Justin-Siena for season split
By Kyle Foster
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
In basketball, seeing the ball go through the net can lead to some big things. After all, it leads to confidence on both sides of the ball when shots are falling.
On Saturday night at the Daniel J. Clark Gym, Napa High started fast and used a key second quarter to beat Justin-Siena, 63-56, in Vine Valley Athletic League play.
Napa (8-11 overall, 3-4 VVAL) took control of the game at the end of the first quarter. They put together an 8-0 scoring run to go up 22-15 with 47.6 left in the frame. During this run, they forced many quick turnovers and made all their shots on the other end.
“I thought we were really scoring the ball well in that first half,” Napa High head coach Carson Carattini explained. “I think we had 24 or 26 in the first quarter, so the ball is going in the hoop, which is always a good thing. But we’ve been talking about just playing better basketball, playing with good pace, and just playing smart and allowing everybody to contribute. So I think you saw the ball move well, and guys be aggressive at the right times and finish.”
It also helped that the Grizzlies had a trio of double-digit scorers in the game. When they share the ball like this, it makes it hard to defend.
Leading Napa in the game was German Camacho finished with a game-leading 17 points and 4 rebounds. The senior guard scored all of his points around the bucket and made his only free throw in the game. He also scored 11 points in the first half.
“Defensively, just being in the right spots, being in the right lanes,” Camacho said of his big night. “Then offensively, my teammates just found me, finding the open gaps and easy buckets.”
All year, Camacho has been someone who isn’t afraid to take on the other team’s top player. In the contest, he used this to get tons of steals that led to layups on the other end as well.
“He’s our defensive specialist,” Carattini said of Camacho and the defensive ability he has. “He’s like a Draymond (Green), obviously not a big but more of a Marcus Smart type of guy who just puts a ton of pressure on you. We can put them on their best player. He’s done a great job on a lot of really good scores in our league and even outside of our league. So he kind of gets us going defensively, and when he can disrupt them, that’s obviously good things for us, because we can get out and run.”
One of them was Gael Bazounguissa, who scored 16 points and grabbed 4 rebounds. He scored 10 points in the first half and made a pair of three-pointers.
“He’s our go-to guy, obviously,” Carattini said of Bazounguissa’s importance. “The guys understand that they try to get him the ball. And he’s being patient. I think he’s been really efficient.”
Finishing with a double-double of 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots. Flynn scored 8 points in the first quarter and made both of his free throws.
“Will is a great player defensively in the paint, helping at the rim, getting blocks, and then upping the ball,” Camacho said of Flynn’s importance “Then offensively, just driving the ball and creating space for others.”
Others scoring for the Grizzlies in the game were Henry MacPherson (9 points, 1 rebound), Patricio Buocristiani (5 points), Aiden Faughn (4 points, 2 rebounds), and Cris Rendon (2 points, 3 rebounds).
The win is also a big one for Napa as it ends a 9-game losing streak against Justin-Siena dating back to 2021.
“I think we all have a checklist of goals that we want to accomplish, and beating every team in our league is one of those things for me,” Carattini said of the win that’s been a long time coming against one of their local rivals. “So we got one more to scratch off that list, and we got them on Tuesday. So looking forward to another opportunity to do that. Our guys, they approached the game the right way. So they were prepared tonight, and I was excited to see them play really well.”
Napa has also begun to find its footing in league play after a slow start to the season. Now they have won back-to-back games.
“I feel like just moving the ball, just getting out in transition, being quicker, and getting into our offense just more quickly,” Camacho said as to what has changed over the last two games.
As for Justin-Siena (6-11, 4-3 VVAL), they were able to claw their way back into the game in the third quarter. They began the frame on a 15-4 run, which cut the deficit to just 2 points and got them right back into the game.
“Just the halftime adjustments were able to make (at the half),” Justin-Siena head coach Corey Battle said of what helped his squad get going out of the break. “Earlier in the year, we struggled in third quarters. So we made it a point of emphasis to be mentally intact so that we could be prepared to have more energy in the third quarter. Mainly, you want to be a better second-half team than the first-half team, so we just been focusing on it a little bit more.”
It also helped that the Braves just ran their offense much better in the second half after a sluggish start to the game.
Leading the Justin-Siena scoring attack in the game was Xiano Ortega who finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds. He was the main beneficiary of the offense running better in the second half as he scored 9 points out of the break. Ortega also made 5 of 7 shots from the line in the game.
“He’s been our inside defensive rebounding anchor all year,” Battle explained. “One of the things is we just feel like we need to reward him for his efforts. So it was emphasized. That was one of the halftime adjustments we made was to get him the ball down there and see what we can get out of it.”
After that, the Braves had a pair of players with 12 points in the game. One of them was Asa Hightower who had 12 points and brought in 2 rebounds. The junior scored 7 points in the first half and split a pair of free throws.
The other one was Dom Pucci. The sophomore scored 12 points in the game, all of which came in the first half. He made three shots from deep in the game and made all 3 shots from the line as well.
“It’s good to have Dom back healthy,” Battle added. “He was sick for about two weeks there. We really missed him. He’s one of the young sophomores we have that’s capable of stretching the floor out and it’s great to have him back. It was great to see him shoot the ball like that today, and hopefully, he keeps it up. He’s going to be a really good player in the future.”
Others scoring in the game for Justin-Siena were Dallas Logwood (7 points, 4 rebounds), Alejandro Perryman (5 points, 2 rebounds), Grayson Wong (5 points, 1 rebound), and Alex Winske (2 points, 6 rebounds, blocked shot).
The Braves have been in the midst of a rough stretch of late. They’ve dropped three straight and a pair of games in league play as well after a good start to the league season.
“I think it’s a combination of teams making the adjustments, and then we haven’t been the best at executing offense this year,” Battle said of the skid and what has happened lately. “Ironically, even though we lost today, I thought today was one of the best games we had executing our offense. But a lot of it’s been offensive execution. We just haven’t been able to put it all together in one game yet. Even the games we won, we haven’t been able to put everything together and have that one solid game yet.”
Both teams will continue league action next week. Napa will visit American Canyon on Tuesday at 7 pm. As for Justin-Siena, they have the league bye on Tuesday before heading to Petaluma to meet first-place Casa Grande on Thursday at 7 pm.
In the previous meetings, American Canyon beat Napa 72-35 back on January 6th and Casa Grande beat Justin-Siena 61-42 on January 8th.
Other VVAL action on Saturday saw American Canyon beat Casa Grande 60-47 and Vintage beat Petaluma 68-37.
