Gauchos bury Trojans

It took a combination of water, weather and erosion some 5 million years to create the Grand Canyon. It took the Casa Grande High School boys basketball team just seven minutes to dig a similar-sized hole and bury archrival Petaluma in its depths Friday night.

Playing before a Petaluma gym-capacity crowd of enthusiastic fans, friends and family of both teams, the Gauchos scored the first 18 points of the game and romped to a 56-34 victory.

The game marked the first Vine Valley Athletic League meeting ever between the two teams.

The suspense went out of the game during the initial seven minutes of total Casa Grande domination.

Scott Nave canned a pair of 3-pointers, Garrett Siebels hit from beyond the arc and Noah Bailey, Kevin Cadle and Tony Sabella all contributed points during the Casa streak.

Petaluma helped dig its own hole with five turnovers and frigid shooting in that opening quarter. The Trojans didn’t score for the first seven minutes of the period, and then only blinked their side of the scoreboard on a pair of free throws by Kenny Alexander.

The scorebook indicated that the teams played fairly even for the rest of the game, with Casa finally winning by 22.

Actually, the Gauchos pretty much played on cruise control over the final three periods, coming up with big buckets or key turnovers each time the Trojans threatened to make a run.

Not that the Trojans didn’t have their moments, Down 38-13 early in the third quarter, Petaluma went on an 8-2 run with Sam Brown banking in a 3-pointer, Robbie Isetta droping in a free throw and George Tynes and Zack Clark both driving for hoops.

But, as it looked like the Trojans might make a run, Siebels added another 3-pointer and momentum came back to the Big House.

Casa Grande coach Jake Lee said the game resulted from a good week of Gaucho preparation.

“We had a great week of practice, and we played like we practiced,” he said. “We were loose and focused.

“We challenged them (the players) and they took the challenge personally.”

While Casa had an excellent shooting game, Lee said it was the defense that was the real spark.

“It started with the defense and blended into the offense,” he said.

Every player got a chance to taste the rivalry experience, as both coaches went to the bench liberally throughout the game.

Siebels finished with 21 points for the Gauchos, with Bailey, who was hot in the second half, adding 17.

Sabella added seven points and Nave six.

The cold-shooting Trojans had no player in double digits. They were led by Alexander and Esteban Bermudez with six apiece. Hard-working Sam Brown, who helped keep the Trojans solvent with his all-court play, finished with five.

Ryan Giacomini rained 3-pointers in the second half, scoring 24 points to lead the Petaluma junior varsity to a 60-48 win over Casa Grande.

Casa Grande won the freshman game, 63-31.

At the start of this week’s play, both Casa Grande and Petaluma were 2-2 in league play. Petaluma is 5-12 overall. Casa Grande’s overall mark is 9-8. The Gauchos host Vintage on Friday night, while Petaluma takes the weekend off, returning to the court Jan. 23 with a visit to Justin-Siena.