Napa High rallies in fourth quarter to get comeback win over Montgomery

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Kyle Foster

kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

There are times when it’s not how you start the game, and instead, it’s how you finish. A strong finish can be all that’s needed to win a game. But don’t do it all the time because that is tempting fate. 

On Tuesday night in Messner Gym, the Napa High boys basketball team came from behind to beat Montgomery of Santa Rosa, 39-37, in a nail-biter. 

The Grizzlies (2-7) were able to get the win thanks to a key fourth quarter, where they outscored Montgomery 12-3. The final frame saw Napa play strong defense and get some good looks on the offensive side of the ball. 

“We’ve been hungry to play well for a little while, and I think our motto coming in tonight was never die,” Napa High head coach Carson Carattini said. “And we wanted to kind of take hold of that and realize, like we’re still in the game, and we were going to keep fighting till the very end. We started to get some consecutive stops, and I think that just kind of built our energy. Then, we saw a shot go in, and so you really start to see us build off of that and just kind of build some confidence, which is something we’ve been kind of searching for. So you just saw us kind of build some confidence tonight and find a little bit something inside ourselves that maybe we, as coaches, knew was there, but them as players kind of figured out, like, ‘Hey, we’re capable of making a run or making a comeback and getting stops when we need to.’ So that was a good effort.” 

Before this, Napa found themselves down 30-19. This came after the Vikings (5-5) went on an 11-2 run that bridged the second and third quarters. At this point, the Grizzlies began to show the fight that they had in them. But another key thing Napa High did well in the game was take care of the basketball, which has been something they have struggled with all season. In the contest, they only turned it over 9 times. 

“We’ve been trying to do that for a while,” Caratinni added. “Just play clean basketball, take care of the basketball. Give ourselves an opportunity to win. But give ourselves an opportunity to make shots. Taking care of the ball is so important. If you don’t get opportunities to shoot it, you’re giving the other team opportunities to shoot it. So we really wanted to make sure we were getting a good shot every time down. We were being patient. You saw us run the shot clock down all the way to one and get a layup. So that’s something we’ve been preaching in practice every day, is just really, just be patient, and then defensively, just knowing that we got to lock in.” 

It also helped that the Grizzlies had a pair of players end the game in double-fugures scoring. Leading the way with a team-high of 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots was senior center Will Flynn. He scored 6 points in the second half of the game and made 4 of 6 free throws in the game.  

Flynn made a huge impact in the game on defense. This impact forced Montgomery into bad shots in the paint. 

“Yeah, I mean, he’s a big-time player,” Caratinni explained. “I think there’s a reason college coaches are calling about him. He does a lot of things for us. He’s really become a confident defender. He didn’t get a steal tonight, but he’s averaging a steal a game. He blocked shots like he has all four years. He’s really cleaning up the glass like he’s a monster down there now and and then he just gives us that security blanket. We can dump it down into him. He can get a good shot for us. And he really draws the defense. He draws a ton of attention. So it’s great to be able to utilize him and create an advantage for ourselves.” 

Also finishing in double-digits in the game was senior Henry MacPherson. He finished with 10 points in the game. MacPherson scored 6 points in the first half and knocked down a trio of shots from behind the three-point line. 

“Well, we’ve got a one-two punch,” Caratinni continued. “I mean, obviously, those two guys draw a lot of attention, and so now it just opens up space for the rest of our guys. And some of those guys need some space to slash and attack.” 

Others scoring in the game for Napa were Tideus Chaidez (6 points, 1 rebound), Cris Rendon (4 points, 5 rebounds), Sawyer Knect (4 points, 4 rebounds), Asher Mendenhall (2 points, 1 rebound), and Hunter Griffin (2 points, 1 rebound). 

This win is a big one for the Grizzlies. It ends what had been a five-game losing streak and gets them back on track with what could be a momentum and confidence-boosting win. 

“Again, it’s just, it’s a confidence builder just to know that they are capable of winning basketball games against quality teams, and that they’re not always going to be pretty, but they’ve got to have a mindset like, ‘We’re going to be a tough out.’,” Caratinni said of the importance of the win and what it could do for his team. “You hear that in the NCAA tournament, and that’s kind of mindset we want to have, is that you’re going to get a battle every time you play us. And so to get a win, you know, it was great because now they feel a little bit more confident, and going forward, you know, we can build on that and feel like, ‘Hey, we can play with anybody.’ Because we have in spurts, but to put it all together at once and get a win, I felt like they needed that.” 

Napa High will be back in action on Saturday at 4 pm when they visit Freedom in Oakley. They will then end the calendar year on December 31st when they host Concord at 4 pm.