Napa, CALIF- Napa was looking to secure their first victory at home against the Solano College Falcons, whom were winless in conference. It was a well contested game but inability to execute in late game situations was the down fall for the Strom. The Storm loss 61-58.
It was a balanced scoring effort for the Storm in the first half. The Storm big men were able to get the Falcons into early foul trouble forcing them to play a much smaller lineup. This boded well for the Strom dominating the rebounding battle early. David Skeete, Saleem Ali-Musa, and Oscar Frank gave the Storm plenty of second chance opportunities. Many of the points in the first half came from in the paint by Ali-Musa and Frank willing their way to the basket on the undersized Falcon forwards. Despite the advantage with points in the paint 3-pt shooting for the Falcons kept them in the game. The Storm only held 28-27 advantage going into half time.
After half time, the Strom increased their ball pressure on the Falcon guards forcing them into turnovers. Those turnovers allowed the Storm to jump to an eight point lead, which was held for most of the half. A key moment in the game was when Ali-Musa was called for an offensive foul with 11:30 left to play. Without Ali-Musa controlling the paint, the Falcons were able to chip away at the lead. In the last five minutes of the game tension began to rise for both teams with both sides playing tense. This sloppy play lead to back to back turnovers from both teams. The Strom were unable to extend their lead, after a Falcon turnover giving it the ball right back. The Storm held a six point lead with 2:30 left in the game but could not capitalize on their offensive possessions. This kept the falcons in the game, and a three pointer at the top of the key gave a one point lead 59-58 for the Falcons. The Storm had the ball on the last possession with 9.6 left, unfortunately the Falcons were able to get their hands in a passing lane and get the game winning steal.
The next game for the Storm is Friday January 25th at 6:00pm vs Merritt College.