Cabrillo uses key second half run to gain advantage, hand Napa Valley first loss of season

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By Kyle Foster

kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

When you’re trying to win, it’s important not to give up points in the painted area on a basketball court.

On Saturday night at Storm Gym, this is what Cabrillo-Aptos did to beat Napa Valley, 61-52, in a non-conference game.

Cabrillo (3-0) took control of the game midway through the second half when they went on a 9-0 run to get a 51-38 lead. They did this by getting a ton of easy buckets in the paint. 

“There was a stretch there where, and I called it burp happy, right,” Napa Valley College head coach Steve Ball explained of the run where Cabrillo put the game away. “We burped up a couple (of) threes. I think there were four or five possessions in a row where we went non-paint touches, and we burped up threes, we missed them, and it went from up two to down seven. I feel like there’s a stretch there where we lost our aggression. We played a little bit on our back foot and played responsive basketball rather than aggression basketball.” 

Though they only made four shots from deep in the game, the two they made in the second half expanded this lead. 

Napa Valley (2-1) got back into the game with a little under five minutes left in the game when they went on their own with a 7-0 run of their own to cut the deficit to five points. 

“I thought we kept fighting when it got to 11,” Ball added. “Then I feel like we did a great job when we kept when we got him in the half-court. I thought like we did a great job when we had some uncharacteristic turnovers that led to some easy baskets for them. I thought that allowed them to breathe a little bit easier and have a little bit more confidence. For us, I honestly think we’re a very, very good first shot defensive team, and when we allowed them to get two or three shots at it, I think that hurt us a little bit too.” 

Leading the Storm in the contest was Kenneth Brown. The freshman finished with a team-high of 16 points and 5 rebounds. He did most of his damage in the first half of the game, where he scored 12 points. The freshman also made a pair of shots from behind the three-point line and converted both free throws in the game. 

“He’s a Benicia kid,” Ball explained. “He’s a great, great offensive player. He can get a bucket right, and then he also rebounds the basketball; that’s when we can be good, right? When he comes in and he can score it and participates on the glass like he did tonight, then he can be good.” 

Other than Brown, Napa Valley didn’t have any other players score in double figures. Normally, they need a few scorers in double figures to win. This was another factor in the loss. 

The Storm had a pair of players finish the night with 8 points apiece. One of them was Jayden Robinson, who added 8 points and 2 rebounds. E’Jay Rogers scored 8 points and corralled 7 rebounds. 

“They ran and jumped us, and we kind of played, we played into their hands on that quite a few times,” Ball said of not having multiple scorers in double-digits, which is normally a recipe they need to win. “I  think Jayden Robinson being in foul trouble a little bit hurt too. He would have gotten there for sure. He fouled out with like, eight minutes to go. And then E’Jay had an uncharacteristic game. I thought he could have helped us a little bit more getting downhill. He usually plays better than that. There wasn’t much, wasn’t much help other than that.”

Others scoring for Napa Valley in the contest were Andrew Degirolamo (7 points, 8 rebounds), Ryan Rice (6 points, 2 rebounds), Kieran Manion (5 points, 1 rebound), and Liam Kilroy (2 points). 

Napa Valley will be back in action on Tuesday night at 7 pm when they visit Santa Rosa. This will be their first road game of the campaign, too.