Juniors lead Trojans to Senior Night victory

After a staggering start, the Petaluma High School boys basketball team got its act together to impressively stop Sonoma Valley’s Dragons, 47-36, Wednesday night in the Petaluma gym.

On a night when Petaluma fans honored their team’s four seniors - Austin Paretti, Colin Stremlau, Benny Spaletta and Joey Potts - it was underclassmen who led the slaying of the Dragons.

“The junior class held it down for us on Senior Night,” said Petaluma coach Scott Behrs.

Not that the seniors didn’t contribute. Potts, as usual, had his dominating inside game, scoring 13 points punctuated by two emphatic slams. His paint defense was superb, continually forcing the Dragons to alter their shots as they drove to the basket.

Paretti, normally Petaluma’s top outside scoring threat, took few shots and had an off night with those he did take. However, he was a major contributor to the Petaluma cause with his ball handling and an even bigger contributor with his defense.

“He had a huge effort defensively that we needed,” noted Behrs.

On a night for the seniors, the leader was junior Brendan O’Neill, who consistently drove through the Sonoma Valley inner defenders, finishing with an assortment of creative moves. He finished with a team-high 14 points.

“He sparked us,” said Behrs. “He was able to get in and finish with contact.”

Petaluma also received strong play from another pair of juniors, who stepped up with perhaps their best efforts of the season. Justin Wolbert displayed a strong shooting touch and finished with eight points, while Devin Gottschall continued his season-long improvement with seven points and a strong effort on the backboards.

Sonoma Valley, playing without outstanding freshman guard Jay Taylor, who leads the team with an 11-point per game scoring average, gave the Trojans a tussle, staying to within six points through three periods.

Eric Bailey led the Dragons with 12 points, with Luke Severson adding eight and Dylan Samaniego six.

Sonoma shocked Petaluma at the outset, scoring the contest’s first seven points before Behrs requested a time out to get things under control.

Potts and Wolbert managed to get Petaluma going and, led by O’Neill’s daredevil drives, the home team scrambled in front, 19-17, at the half.

Going into the final round, Petaluma led by six, 32-26, and then went into full-throttle defensive mode to hold the Dragons at bay.

Potts punctuated the win with a slam with 45 seconds remaining, although it wasn’t until the final 10 ticks that Sonoma finally gave up and quit deliberately fouling in an effort to hold off the inevitable.

Petaluma is now 11-12 for the season, but 7-3 in second place in the SCL, a game up on third-place Healdsburg. A second-place finish would give the Trojans one more home court game this season in the first round of the league playoffs.

Saturday, Petaluma romped over Contra Costa Christian, 72-38, in a non-league game played in the Petaluma gym.