PETALUMA, Calif - Petaluma was led by its top two scorers Wednesday night, Esteban Bermudez and Ryan Sullivan, in the Trojans' 73-60 win over crosstown rival Casa Grande played at Ed Iacopi Gymnasium.
“After last year, we had a lot of tough losses in league, and Casa beat us twice, so this one feels good.” Sullivan said.
Leading 36-31 at the half, Petaluma (11-5, 3-0) opened up the second half on a 7-0 run to bump it up to a 12-point lead. Sullivan started it off with a three ball, then Julian Garrahan hit a fadeaway jumper, and Eric Perez finished it off with a lay in to take a 43-31 lead.
The teams would exchange baskets the rest of the period, with Petaluma getting the last blow, a long two from Sullivan to take a 54-44 lead into the fourth quarter.
The start of the game was fast paced on both sides. Sullivan and Bermudez got them going with the first five points quickly, and Casa Grande head coach Chris Gutendorf called a timeout just 30 seconds into the game.
After that, the Gauchos started to settle in. Tory Cain was fouled on a made three point basket, and made the free throw to cut it to a 5-4 game just like that. Bermudez would hit two three’s, with Dom McHale sandwiching a lay up of his own. McHale would score the next four Casa Grande (4-13, 1-3) points himself to keep them in the hunt at 11-10 Trojans.
Bermudez would score the six Petaluma points, all on two’s and Sullivan closed out the quarter with two of his own as Petaluma took a 19-10 lead after one.
“We wanted to come out and make a statement and compete,” said Petaluma head coach Anton Lyons. “We had a gameplan going in. We wanted to get the ball inside, and (Ryan) Sullivan came through like the player he is.”
Petaluma bumped its lead up to double digits with a Garrahan shot. George Morawicz off the bench had four points in the second period. Perez and Sullivan continued to dominate for Petaluma until they hit a little bit of a wall with about four minutes to go in the first half.
Petaluma led 31-16, but Casa Grande began to claw back. Sonny Gigliotti hit a three to start it. Rashad Nixon was fouled for a three point play. Cain continued his solid night with a bucket. Sullivan and Gigliotti exchanged three pointers, and Nixon closed the quarter with another three point play when he was fouled with about 18 seconds left, making the halftime score 36-31 Petaluma.
It was an evenly played fourth quarter on both sides. Casa would cut the deficit down to six with Nixon and Tai Grant hitting shots, and Colin Patchet would bring it back to a six point deficit after hitting a bucket, but Bermudez came back with a three, and Garrahan had another jumper in him to bring it back to an 11-point lead for Petaluma.
Down the stretch, the teams traded baskets, with Bermudez hitting two more three’s, Grant hitting a three, and Cain completing a nice night with a three point play of his own.
Bermudez finished with 26 points for Petaluma, with Sullivan adding 20 points. Gigliotti led Casa Grande with 14 points, with Nixon and Cain adding 13 points apiece.
“I told Esteban to get loose. I wanted him to break out tonight, and look to go to work. One of my assistants, Andrew Riley said that we need to let Esteban out of his cage, and came out of it with 26 points.” said Lyons postgame
Petaluma travels to American Canyon Friday night for a battle of first vs second place in the Vine Valley Athletic League. That will be a 7pm tip off.
“American Canyon and Vintage are on our tail. One loss can change things. We got a lot of firepower that we are trying to manage.” Lyons said.
“This is a big game. They’re someone we are trying to knock off in part of our goal to win league.” Sullivan said.
Casa Grande will have a league bye on Friday, but will hit the road to Justin Siena-Napa next Wednesday, another 7 pm tip off.
