Key run to start second quarter fueled by strong defense leads Napa past Justin-Siena to win season series in VVAL Tournament quarterfinal
By Kyle Foster
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Often, when you face adversity, the bigger message is how you respond. This is true not only in life but also in sports.
On Tuesday night at the Daniel J. Clark Gym, this is what the No. 5 seed Napa responded about as well as one could want as they beat No. 4 seed Justin-Siena, 55-47, in the quarterfinals of the Vine Valley Athletic League postseason tournament.
The Grizzlies (11-15) gained control of the game in the second quarter. In that period, they started with a 5-0 run to go up 16-7. They would end the half with a 23-13 lead and be in good control of the game.
“We were focusing on details,” Napa High head coach Carson Carattini explained. “Anytime you see a team for the third time, you’re obviously very familiar with each other, and so we know what we were expecting in terms of what they were going to do. And we tried to focus in on some things and where we had to stop them. I thought we just did a great job of that, especially in the first half.”
During this stretch, Napa also played some good defense to help get control of the game.
The offense was also more cohesive, which is always a sign of a good night ahead. Senior Gael Bazounguissa benefited most from this. He finished with a game-high 20 points and 6 rebounds. In the second half, he scored 16 points, making one shot from downtown and his line free-throw attempt. Bazounguissa also scored 16 points from right around the rim.
“The shot wasn’t falling tonight,” Bazounguissa explained of his scoring around the rim. “So I relied mostly on my teammates that we were just moving the ball and I was able to get open. So it’s a lot of thanks to them.”
Also having a good night with a nice double-double performance was Will Flynn. The junior scored 15 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and blocked a whopping 4 shots in the game. Flynn scored 11 points in the second half and made both of his free throws in the game.
“I mean, his rim protection is amazing,” Bazounguissa said of Flynn’s impact. “He just draws a bunch of attention on the offense and defensive end of the court. So that just allows us to be more open and allows more spacing on the floor and stuff like that.”
Others scoring for the Grizzlies in the game were Aiden Faughn (7 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocked shots), Henry MacPherson (6 points, 2 rebounds), Patricio Buoncristiani (3 points, 1 rebound), German Comacho (2 points, 2 rebounds), and Cris Rendon (2 points).
With the win, Napa showed they had some great resilience only hours after dropping a tough 50-49 game to Antioch in overtime on Monday.
“I think they understood the assignment,” Carattini said of the nice bounce-back performance. “It might have been our last game, and I think the guys understood that and you saw great effort from everybody. When we’re playing that way with great energy and aggressiveness, we’re very dangerous. So I thought we from tip to horn, we just did a good job of being aggressive.”
On top of that, it also gives them the season series win over Justin-Siena after a split in the regular season of league play.
As for the Braves (8-15), they were able to once again make the game interesting in the third quarter when they got the offense going after a very slow start. In that frame, they were able to fight back and knot things up at 42.
“Ultimately, we made shots,” Justin-Siena head coach Corey Battle said of the third-quarter rally. “We executed, and in the execution, we were able to get the shots that we wanted and knocked them down.”
Leading the Justin-Siena offense in the game was Josh Madayag. He finished with a team-leading 19 points and 3 rebounds. Madayag made three shots from behind the three-point line and 6 of 9 shots at the line in the game while also scoring 11 points after halftime.
“I don’t know what kind of flu bug he caught, but he caught a bad one, and it took him took he’s just now getting back recovered,” Battle explained. “ So he hadn’t really been healthy since the first Napa game. So he missed the second Napa game, and in this game, he has a good feel for what they do, and he can play when he’s healthy. He just hasn’t been healthy.”
Also finishing in double figures was Asa Hightower who scored 10 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. He scored 8 points in the second half.
Rounding out the scoring for the Braves were Eli Wilson (9 points, 3 rebounds), Xiano Ortega (4 points, 7 rebounds), Alejandro Perryman (3 points), and Dom Pucci (2 points).
Napa will continue into the league tournament where they’ll face top-seeded Casa Grande on Thursday at 7 pm in Petaluma. The winner of that will play for the league title on Saturday night at Napa High. As for Justin-Siena, they will now have the rest of the week off before awaiting their fate in the CIF North Coast Section playoffs with brackets releasing on Sunday.
In other quarterfinal games, No. 2 American Canyon beat No. 7 Petaluma 61-39, and No. 3 Sonoma Valley beat No. 6 Vintage 74-53. Sonoma Valley will visit American Canyon in the other semifinal on Thursday.
