SONOMA, Calif - Sonoma Valley closed the third quarter on a 13-3 run to take a 31-30 deficit and turn it into a 43-34 lead, en route to a 62-54 win over Petaluma, who was previously undefeated in VVAL play.
“Two competitive squads going at it, it was awesome,” said Sonoma Valley head coach Mike Boles. “We always stress the first four minutes of the game, and the first four minutes of the second half. We set the tempo.”
“I’d like to thank our crowd. Our crowd played a huge part tonight, kind of like when we went on the road to Justin Siena, they traveled with us. Our kids feed off of that energy,” Boles said.
“It’s truly amazing. Our crowd came out for everything and the dunk at the end to seal the deal was amazing,” said Sonoma Valley sophomore Dom Girish
Riley Phelan started the stretch with a nice move inside to put the Dragons back ahead before Eric Perez hit a free throw to tie things back up. Then, Girish hit a three to put them back ahead. Ryan Sullivan got the Trojans back to within one.
After that, Sonoma Valley went on an 8-0 run to end the period. Sophomores Girish and Mathislon led the way, with Mathison hitting two three’s in succession to give the Dragons a 43-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter of play.
Sonoma Valley started out strong over their league rivals. Girish began his big night getting them on the board. With the Dragons up 4-1, Phelan hit his first three of the night to get them off and running.
Petaluma was able to claw back into it with the help of another sophomore, Cole Garzoli. His spirited play was able to help propel them back in for a moment, but Girish and Luke Sendaydiego would run their offense to perfection with two very easy baskets, with Sendaydiego making a very nice move to create space for the bucket to put the Dragons up 11-4.
The Trojans' other sophomore, Ryan Giacomini would get a steal and a lay up for Petaluma, but Phelan responded back with a three, and Girish had scored his 6th points of the night to put Sonoma Valley up 16-7. The Dragons would end the quarter with a 16-10 advantage.
Petaluma would start the second quarter on the right foot, with Giacomini hitting a three to cut the score to 16-13, but Mathison responded with one himself. Girish would continue his hot start with five points on consecutive possessions to give the Dragons their biggest lead of the game at 24-13.
The teams then traded scores, with Sonoma getting the last laugh on an AJ Riebli score to give the Dragons momentum, and a 26-18 lead heading into the intermission.
After Sonoma’s 13-3 run to end the third quarter, Petaluma drew to within seven on an Ivan Cortes three pointer off the backboard. Girish then swished home two from the free throw line, and one from way beyond the arc to put the home team back up 11 to start the fourth quarter.
“He’s composed. For a sophomore, he has a high IQ. He’s got a fire inside of him that he doesn’t show but he’s got it. Smart kid, and a quality basketball player. I’m glad he’s on our side,” said Boles
The teams essentially played tit for tat as far as scoring is concerned, but Petaluma eventually pulled to within four with Giacomini’s corner three, but Phelan responded right away with one himself, and Girish knocked down a free throw to bring the lead back up to eight.
With the lead at six, Hewitt grabbed Phelan’s missed layup off the backboard and tossed it back in the net mid jump, and then Girish came up with a steal to give Rollo Benstead a break away dunk to set the Pfeiffer gymnasium into a frenzy with just under 10 seconds to play.
Girish finished with 23 points for Sonoma Valley. Phelan had 14 to chip in. Sullivan led Petaluma with 16 points.
Sonoma Valley’s big win is their seventh in a row, and are now one game back of Petaluma in the VVAL standings, tied with Vintage. Sonoma Valley’s next game will be at the aforementioned Vintage next Wednesday.
“It’s hard to win in this league. We need to celebrate each win,” Boles stated after the game
“This is really exciting. I know for the past few years we have not been as good as we wanted to be, and we lost to them (Petaluma) by one already, and touching up a few things on defense helped us in the end,” Girish added.
Petaluma is given its first league loss of the season, and will travel to Vintage for a huge game on Saturday night.
