Justin-Siena takes control with early first quarter run, trio of double-digit scorers to beat Vintage for season sweep

By Kyle Foster

Kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

It seems to take forever to see a team take control. But when it happens early, it makes things much easier.

In Saturday night’s Vine Valley Athletic League contest, this is what Justin-Siena did as they beat Vintage, 59-43, at Crusher Gym in the final league meeting of the season for the two Trower rivals. 

The Braves (7-12 overall, 5-4 VVAL) were able to lead the game wire to wire. However, they got the lead in the first quarter. After trading buckets to begin the game, Justin-Siena went on an 11-0 run to get a double-digit lead right away. This all started on the defensive end by making it hard to get any good shots. 

“We played really good defense,” first-year Justin-Siena head coach Corey Battle said of the lead they gained in the first quarter that was enough to manage the rest of the way. “I believe we went up 14-5 or so and getting out early was able to put us in a position to where we idn’t feel any pressure we didn’t need to do or go outside of what we’re supposed to do.”  

On the offensive end, it was also a better night than previously. After all, the Braves shared the ball much better in the game. They also had three players finish in double-digits in the game. Besides Perryman, they got 10-point games from Josh Madayag and Dallas Logwood. 

“Anytime we get any kind of scoring, we’re happy,” Battle laughed. “But today they the offense moved the ball really well. Those guys were able to score a lot of points, but a lot of it was because we shared the ball very well with a lot of open shots. We were really prepared for this game and this team, I know they were down a few guys, but we were ultimately very prepared for everything they were going to do.”

Perryman finished with a team-leading 12 points and 2 rebounds. He scored 7 points in the second half. He also made all 3 of his free throws in the contest. 

“Coach tells me to play aggressive,” Perryman said of his night. “So every time I get the ball, I’m looking to score, looking to create for my teammates. I had some open looks, so I was just taking them, and I had some open drives, so I was just attacking strongly, and I got some easy buckets.” 

As the season has gone on, the freshman guard has grown more comfortable in the system and has shown a greater ability to score from all over the court. 

“That’s why he’s up here with us,” Battle said of why the freshman is on varsity. “We want him to get that, that experience of playing with people bigger, stronger, and faster, because being a freshman we feel he’s going to be one of the best players in the area when it, when it is his time to take over. But right now, he’s just a super good freshman, and he’s absorbing all the experience and all the information he can learn. And he’s an extremely smart kid and a great kid to coach.”

Madayag finished the game with 10 points and 3 rebounds. He scored 8 points in the second half while making both free throws. The senior guard also made a pair of shots from deep in the game. 

Logwood finished with 10 points and 2 rebounds. He had 5 points in each half and split a pair of shots at the line. 

Others scoring in the game for the Braves were Alex Winske (6 points, 6 rebounds), Asa Hightower (5 points, 3 rebounds), Bradley Bautista (5 points, 2 rebounds), Armani Vargas (3 points, 4 rebounds), Grayson Wong (3 points, 2 rebounds), Eli Wilson (3 points, 1 rebound), and Jackson Calvelo (2 points, 3 rebounds). 

As for Vintage (8-14, 4-5 VVAL), they were able to keep the game close at the start. But they could never get a run going to get close. 

The Crushers also came into the game with a skeletal team after injuries had hit them hard coming into the contest. 

“This was a skeleton crew,” Vintage head coach Ben Gongora explained. “We’re missing three guys and two of our top scorers due to injury and that’s going to happen. You coach, you play, you’re going to deal with injuries throughout the season. If you are able to compete and avoid injuries, you’re lucky, right? But it’s part of sports, so we put up a fight, we did the best we could.” 

Leading the Vintage offense in the game was Danny Ward. He finished with a game-high 15 points and 6 rebounds. He did all of this off the bench as well. The junior forward scored 13 points in the second half of the game and made 3 of 4 free throws. 

“Danny’s progressing,” Gongora explained of the junior. “Danny’s young for his grade. So age-wise, he’s a he’s a sophomore. Grade-wise, he’s a junior, and he has been progressing. He’s been progressing and learning. Fundamentals have been improving. Physicality is coming along, slowly but surely. But there’s definitely talent there, and there’s definitely potential that, with a lot of work can be developed.” 

Others scoring for the Crushers were Anthony Wilmert (7 points, 4 rebounds), Thiago Cortez (6 points), Grayson Frye (5 points, 1 rebound), Rory Holland (3 points, 3 rebounds), and Jonah Harris (2 points, 3 rebounds). 

Both teams will start the final week of league play on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on the road. Vintage will visit Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park on Monday night before playing Napa in the second Big Game on Tuesday. Justin-Siena will play Sonoma Valley on Tuesday in another rivalry game. 

In the first Big Game back on January 15th, Vintage beat Napa 68-32 and Justin-Siena beat Sonoma Valley 51-50 that same night. 

Other VVAL action on Saturday saw Casa Grande beat Napa 52-42 and Sonoma Valley beat Petaluma 70-44.