Petaluma advances to VVAL Tournament finals

Petaluma’s Trojans held off a late charge by American Canyon’s Wolves 53-42 Wednesday evening to shoot their way into the finals of the Vine Valley Athletic League Tournament being played in the Coach Ed Iacopi Gymnasium on the Casa Grande High School campus.

The tournament pairs the top four VVAL boys teams and the top four girls teams based on regular season records, but does not count in final league standings.

Casa Grande’s Gauchos play in the girls semifinal game tonight (Thursday) against American Canyon at 5:30 , with No. 1 seed Sonoma Valley following at 7 p.m. against Vintage. Finals will be Saturday, with the girls playing at 5:30 p.m. and the boys at 7 p.m.

Petaluma will face No. 1 seed Justin-Siena, a 69-54 winner over Vintage, in the boys championship game.

Wednesday night, Petaluma used a tenacious defense and the hot shooting hand of Andy Bai to a 15-point third-quarter lead only to have Noah Budu almost will the Wolves back into the game.

Both teams were aggressive on defense and deliberate on offense during a first half that put a high premium on baskets.

The most significant developments of the first half were Petaluma’s Dalton Armstrong, Eliott Blue and Rowan Calhoun showing they could hold their own with the high-jumping Wolves in the paint and American Canyon showing its outside shooting was missing in action.

Strong moves to the basket netted Blue seven points in the second period and the Trojans a 20-14 halftime lead.

Petaluma opened the second half on a 9-point run, with Armstrong accounting for six of the nine. When Bai, scoreless in the first half, hit a pair of 3-pointers, sandwiched around a drive by Brody Loveless, Petaluma had a 37-15 lead and the game looked to be a blowout.

Then came Budu. The 6-foot, 1-inch junior fearlessly drove through the heart of the Petaluma defense. He led American Canyon to the final 7 points of the third period and continued his assault into the final quarter. He was aided and abetted by Jack Turner who supplied a 3-point connection and two floor hits.

The surge cut the Petaluma lead to a cautionary five points at 39-34, before Bai and Blue could get the Trojan ship safely back on course.

A pair of drives by Calhoun helped disrupt the American Canyon comeback attempt and the Trojans climbed back to a safe lead at the foul line as time expired.

Bai finished with 21 points, all in the second half. Blue and Calhoun added 9 apiece.

Budu, who did everything, including hit the only American Canyon 3-pointer of the game, led all scorers with 25 points.