By MARTY JAMES martyjames.sports@gmail.com
Coach Steve Ball saw some areas that he liked in the second half of the Napa Valley College men's basketball team's game against Yuba College-Marysville, the Bay Valley Conference's first-place team, on Wednesday night.
It's the way that the Storm played – combining high-level energy and becoming more and more aggressive. It's the way that the Storm worked – getting to the free-throw line.
It's the way that Jerard Jackson is playing – knocking down four 3-pointers.
Three players scored in double figures for Napa Valley, but it was not enough as the Storm fell to Yuba, 88-58.
"I thought that in the second half, we finally came to compete a little bit better," said Ball. "In the second half, we did a lot more. We were a little more aggressive, trying to get downhill rather than avoiding contact." Yuba (18-2 overall, 8-0 Bay Valley Conference) came into the week at No. 3 in Signal The Light Basketball-Northern California Rankings, announced in a report, at stlball.com, on Jan. 22.
The win was the 12th in a row for Yuba, which went on a 26-0 run after falling behind early against the Storm, 5-0.
"Our shoulders slumped, but after that point, we kind of realized we can compete again, and I thought we played a little bit better," said Ball.
Jalen Moore scored 14 points to lead Napa Valley (1-19 overall, 1-7 Bay Valley Conference), which has lost two in a row.
Jackson and Hassan Flemming each scored 13 points for the Storm, which hit seven 3-pointers and was 11-of-18 from the free-throw line.
Seven players scored for Napa Valley, which was behind at halftime, 45-22.
Nate Broome scored eight points and Jamari Taylor had five points.
"I thought that we got closer to being on script in the second half than we were in the first (half)," said Ball. "We had more fight in us in the second half than we did the first half.
"We said, we wanted this game to be every possession – defend everything through, execute everything through on our end.
"We talked about being a little more aggressive on the back end of the press after breaking the press, being a little more aggressive trying to go to the rim. I think we got a few more foul calls because we were being more aggressive. The more aggressive team is going to get a foul call for it. If we're too passive, we're not going to get many foul calls because you're not really trying to get to the paint."
Thirteen players scored for Yuba, which had 11 3-pointers and was 19-of-26 from the free-throw line.
Devon Malcolm scored 16 points, 14 coming in the first half, to lead Yuba.
Caden Flowers scored 13 points with four 3-pointers.
Casen Chaney and Majer Sullivan each scored 11 points.
Cam Niles had eight points, Cab Odom had seven points, Demarreya Lewis-Cooper had six points, and with five points was Devan Minouei.
"They've just got a lot of pieces and their depth, even when they go deeper into their bench, their guys can still play," Ball said of Yuba. "They can absolutely do something in the playoffs. They can be back at the Elite Eight, like they've been before, I think."
For the Storm, it's now on to Friday's game, at 7 p.m., at the College of Alameda.
"They're a motivated group," Ball said of his team. "I think that there's a handful of winnable games coming up on our schedule."
* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.