BIGGS — The Biggs High School boys basketball team trailed Napa Christian 60-22 at halftime of the CIF NorCal Division VI playoff game, but the Wolverines lived up to their mascot’s name and never stopped fighting.
The Wolverines have consistently fought all season long, leading to their first Northern Section title since the 1960s, and first berth to the NSCIF title game since the 1980s.
Despite the fight, Biggs’ playoff run came to an end Wednesday when Napa Christian (an educational partner of Prolific Prep) defeated the Wolverines 97-81 in Biggs.
It was the first home CIF state playoff game in the Biggs boys basketball program’s history, and captain Emilio Vera reflected on it postgame.
“It was definitely special,” Vera said. “The whole school was happy about it. The teachers were excited, we got a lot of support and a lot of posters, the crowd on Facebook was excited, and just everybody wanted to come. I’m just happy we got to be able to play here, but we couldn’t get it finished.”
The first half the Wolverines struggled to get momentum going, battling a combination of 6-foot-11 Obi Ekezie’s defense and the consistent 3-point threats from Napa Christian. Napa made seven 3-pointers in the first half and 12 in the game. The Wolverines struggled with the balance of guarding Ekezie in the paint and the red-hot shooters on the perimeter.
The Wolverines struggled to get to the rim with Ekezie defending. Ekezie had 15 points, all in the first half, four dunks, in addition to over 10 rebounds and 10 blocks. However, on offense it wasn’t just the threat of Ekezie, it was the perimeter shooters from Napa Christian that caused Biggs problems.
“Those guys were shooters,” Vera said. “We couldn’t really guard them, and once someone can shoot and they’re on fire we can’t really do anything about it besides stepping up a little more. We just couldn’t get it done.”
At halftime, with the Wolverines trailing by 38 points, Vera and other members of the Biggs team got emotional. Vera led a talk to his team and said no matter what, they’ve had a great season, but they couldn’t just fold in the second half.
“Our first home court state playoff game, I told them we got a big crowd out there we can’t go out like this,” Vera said. “We got to go out and put up some points.”
The Wolverines did just that. They got an extra spark of momentum out of the halftime break, and started the second half on a 7-0 run. Biggs outscored Napa Christian 28-23 in the third quarter, scoring more points in the third quarter than the first two quarters combined, and trimmed the lead to 83-50.
Biggs switched from a zone defense in the first half to a man-to-man defense in the second half, and it worked.
In the fourth quarter Biggs continued the momentum, outscoring the Knights 29-14. Ekezie fouled out with 4 minutes and 31 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and Biggs finished the game on a 14-1 run, but it was too little, too late.
Still, for many people in the town of Biggs, made up of just under 2,000 people, it is hard not to consider this season a success.
“We haven’t been to sections since the 1980s, so it’s been a while. We haven’t won it since the 1960s so I’m happy about that,” Vera said. “It feels great to build a legacy. There’s no banners you see here for the boys. The 60s is the last time we won league and we did that too. That’s history for us.”
Vera finished with a team-high 25 points for Biggs, including 15 in the fourth quarter and 21 in the second half. Sophomore Skyler Long had 16 points, and junior Brady Smith had 9.
