Sonoma Valley Dragons struggle in split week of VVAL action

The Sonoma Valley Dragons went 21 of 26 from the free-throw line in Wednesday win over Justin-Siena.|

The Sonoma Valley varsity basketball team suffered a setback Tuesday night, Jan. 8, when leading scorer Jake Boydell pulled up short with a twisted knee in first-quarter action. That left junior Reed Hewitt to pick up the scoring slack – he led the team with 16 points – but it was the hit to the offense doomed the Dragons, who lost 57-43 to the Napa Grizzlies.

“We never really got untracked offensively,” said Coach Mike Boles. “When that happens our defense must be perfect, and it was in stretches, but being unable to score put us in a tough position.”

Along with Hewitt’s 16, Riley Phelan came up with 7 points, and both Trent Garrett and Dom Girish scored 4 each. Phelan and Garret each had 5 rebounds.

But the missing hot hand of Boydell was felt, and his season points total remains stuck at 299 until he returns to play. When that will be remains unknown, pending results of an MRI scheduled for Friday this week.

“We look forward to bouncing back,” said Boles after the Napa game. And two nights later, on Wednesday, Jan. 10, they did just that, defeating Justin-Siena by a decisive 65 -59 score in what Boles called “a tough, physical game.”

That means a lot of penalties, and that means a lot of free throws – 54 in all between the two teams. And the results showed the Dragons benefitted most, going 21 of 26 from the line. Those “easy points” helped Phelan score a team-leading 20, followed by Garrett’s 15, Hewitt’s 13 and Girish’s 10.

The Justin-Siena Braves outscored the Dragons in the first quarter behind two three-pointers from their leading scorer, Liam McDevitt, and again in the fourth when they outscored Sonoma Valley 24-13; but the Dragons’ 19 in both the second and third quarters kept the Braves at bay.

Next rival for the Dragons is VVAL-leading Vintage High on Friday, Jan. 11, in Napa; their next home game is Monday, Jan. 14 against American Canyon, at 7 p.m. at Pfeiffer Gym, SVHS.

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