Dragon boys win season opener

The Sonoma Valley High School varsity boys basketball team drove away talk of the winter storms on Thursday with their own news. It is two-fold.
First, some nine players on the 15-man roster did not suit up for the game. While details have not been officially released, these players evidently committed an infraction of school rules while in Phoenix for a pre-season tournament over the Christmas break, and so they lost their privilege of participation in school extra-curricular activities. That includes playing sports, both practices and games.
To add depth to the roster of six remaining varsity players, Matt Darnell, Victor Fuentes, Ben Graff, Julian Mizzuno, P.J. Pedroncelli, and Jayce Ray, two junior varsity players, Dillon Severson and Adam Spry, were called up, and team manager Lee Jorgensen was moved to the active roster.
The other news was how effectively that line-up played against a strong Analy team. The Tigers from Sebastopol brought a big, experienced team to Pfeiffer Gym on Thursday evening, and they were out-coached by first-year Sonoma coach Casey Rogina, if not out-played by the Dragons. The Sonoma boys used the clock to keep the score low, they played tenacious defense, and Graff and Ray hit key free throws in the final minutes to hold on to a 6-point victory, 37-31.
The boys travel to road games on Saturday and twice next week, returning for their next home game on Tuesday, January 15.