Sonoma Valley Dragons dig deep to defeat Vintage

“Man, what a gut check,” said Coach Mike Boles of the Dragons’ 52-51 win over Vintage.|

The Sonoma Valley Dragons varsity basketball team pulled out a win over Vintage on the Napa high school’s home court last Thursday, Jan. 10, extracting a victory from the jaws of defeat with little more than two minutes left on the clock.

“Man, what a gut check,” said Coach Mike Boles. “The kids showed some grit and were able to grind out a tough win on the road.”

Though the Dragons took control early in the game with a 16-12 first quarter, their luck faded when the Crushers reversed the rhythm in the second period to lead at the half, 24-22. The lead see-sawed until the final minutes when the Napa team sat atop a 47-44 lead with only 2:09 remaining.

Then Nicolas Spanger got the hot hand, hitting on a 3-pointer and following it up with a 2-point bucket, adding a digit with a free throw to grab a 50-47 lead. A late trade of baskets narrowed the gap but when the buzzer sounded the difference was in the free-throw, with a final score of 52-21.

“We had to dig deep to make those extra-effort plays,” said Boles. “We have a locker room full of players that care.”

Leader scorer was junior Riley Phelan with 21, followed by senior Spanger with 21 and freshman Dom Girish with 11. Phelan also led with four rebounds, all on defense.

The Dragons will put their two-game winning streak to the test on Monday night against American Canyon, a 7 p.m. varsity tipoff at Pfeiffer Gym (results too late for press time).

While Napa leads the VVAL standings, American Canyon is in second with a 4-1 record, while the Dragons are 2-2, but 12-6 on the year while the Wolves are 8-10.

It will be followed on Wednesday against Petaluma on the road and another crucial road game at Napa High on Friday, Jan. 18.

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