McCoy's dramatic game-winner lifts NVC men's basketball on 'Sophomore Night'
Photos: It was "Sophomore Night," with Napa Valley College honoring five players before Thursday's Bay Valley Conference men's basketball game.
Photos by Marty James
By MARTY JAMES
"Sophomore Night" for the Napa Valley College men's basketball team started out with pregame ceremonies on Thursday, with coach Steve Ball presenting beautifully framed jerseys to five players: Liam Kilroy, AJ McCoy, Kieran Mannion, Jayden Robinson and E'Jay Rogers.
The night ended with McCoy taking an inbounds pass with just 4.9 seconds to go, racing down the court and hitting a dramatic game-winning shot as the buzzer sounded, giving Napa Valley a thrilling 71-69 Bay Valley Conference win over Contra Costa College-San Pablo.
"It's just a dream ending," said McCoy. "Everybody wants to win their last game. Everybody wants to hit that game-winning shot. I got the opportunity. Coach was like, 'AJ, I want you to get the ball, come down and just make a play.' And that's what I did.
"It's definitely an amazing feeling. I came off the bench and I had a slow start. It just turned out well."
It was the final game of the 2025-26 regular season for Napa Valley, which celebrated its come-from-behind win both on the floor and in the team room, drenching Ball with water bottles.
"We talk about it all the time, with dealing with adversity," said Ball. "We had so much adversity through this season, with all the injuries that we had. We never really had a full roster because of all the injuries that we had. We started out with 16 guys and we ended with 12.
"And so, it's just a microcosm of life. You're going to have adversity, and then just in the short term, we had adversity in this game. We had foul trouble. We had a bunch of different things happening to us, but we didn't let it pull us down. We kept chopping wood, we say, kept fighting. And then, if you do that, you're going to provide yourself with an opportunity. There's no guarantee that the outcome is going to go your way, but you're going to provide yourself with an opportunity."
Napa Valley (12-16 overall, 8-8 Bay Valley Conference) had that opportunity late in the game.
In a tie game, McCoy took the inbounds pass from AJ Loustau, got past midcourt in speedy fashion and with great ball handling, and connected from 12 feet on a running off-balance floater, exciting the big crowd and sending the Storm to its second straight win to end the season.
"(McCoy) knew he had plenty of time to get downhill. We just told him, 'Hey, put the ball to the paint and just get downhill.' And he did just that. He hit one heck of a shot," an ecstatic Ball said, outside a joyous team room. "We're all very excited. It was a well-deserved drenching, with waters and everything they had in their hand. They got me pretty good. I will gladly take it."
Loustau scored 23 points, going 5-of-5 from the free-throw line.
Jayden Russotti had 18 points, with two 3-pointers and going 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
Napa Valley went 5-5 over its last 10 games.
The Storm was 2-0 during its final week of the season, also beating College of Alameda, 72-66, on Tuesday, Feb. 17.
The Storm is in sixth place in the Bay Valley. They had several close losses during the season – including four two-point losses, a three-point loss and a five-point loss.
"Coach (Ball) told me, 'Treat practice like games.' So, going into practice every day, I just did my thing. Just kept coming out, grinding every day. Hard work pays off," said McCoy.
"We're defensive-oriented. It starts on the defensive end with us."
Napa Valley went into the final week of the season averaging 71.6 points per game on 40.8 percent shooting from the field, 32.0 percent shooting from 3-point range, and 69.0 percent from the free-throw line. The Storm was also averaging 35.7 rebounds per game and 13.4 assists per game.
It was a big turnaround from last year's season for NVC (4-24 overall, 3-13 Bay Valley Conference), which tied for eighth place in the conference.
"I feel like we have quite a bit of a talent in that locker room," said Ball. "I feel that had we had early on the chance to gel without all the injuries, this would have been the team that you saw in December rather than January. We're two buzzer-beaters away on the other side of it from winning seven of our last eight. So, I feel like we're entitled to have a win like that, where we get one at the buzzer ourselves.
"Great team win."
McCoy scored eight points, going 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.
Kieran Mannion scored eight points, with two 3-pointers.
Kenny Brown had seven points and E'Jay Rogers had five points.
Napa Valley had five 3-pointers and was 16-of-18 from the free-throw line.
The Storm's five sophomores – Liam Kilroy, AJ McCoy, Kieran Mannion, Jayden Robinson, E'Jay Rogers – were introduced before the game by Brandon Lucas, the public address announcer and a trainer in the NVC Athletic Department. The players were joined by their families at mid-court for photos before the game.
"This is the perfect ending," said McCoy.
Ball said the sophomore class is comprised of high-character, hard-working players, who work just as hard in the classroom as they do on the court.
"We have a great GPA with this group as well," said Ball.
McCoy, who is out of Cornerstone Christian High-Antioch, came into the week averaging 4.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.
Russotti and Loustau have each played very well throughout the season.
Russotti is averaging 16.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
Loustau is averaging 11.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.
Coming out of a timeout, McCoy took the inbounds pass from Loustau.
"The idea is get two shooters up ahead of the ball, and that was (Brown and Russotti). We screened to bring (McCoy) to the ball," said Ball.
"It's a situation when you are provided no other opportunities but to make the play. You have to make the play. The ball's in your hands. Everybody's depending on you. So, there's no pressure on you. Only the opportunity.
"It's awesome. I'm proud of him. He's a great guy and he's a great basketball player. He made a hell of a play. He didn't have any hesitation on it. He knew he had to get that ball up."
McCoy said there were no other options, only to go coast to coast with the ball. He said he got a "pretty decent look" at the basket.
"I definitely got up high enough to float it in off one leg. It just went in. It was more of a floater. I was sure that it was going in, because I took off running," said McCoy. "Everybody rushed me. It was just amazing. This is my first game winner. It just feels great."
Napa Valley was behind 26-18 in the first half, but came back and went ahead, 30-28, on a 3-pointer by Russotti. The Storm was also ahead 32-29.
Contra Costa went on an 8-0 run to end the half, taking a 37-32 lead.
NVC took a 53-51 lead in the second half.
A 3-pointer by Mannion tied the game, 66-66 with 1:30 to go.
Loustau gave the Storm a 69-68 lead, completing a three-point play, with 33.1 seconds to go.
Christian Marshall tied it, 69-69, with a free throw for Contra Costa with 5.6 seconds to play.
Contra Costa (16-12 overall, 10-6 Bay Valley), which is in a three-way tie for second place, was led by Julius Wade and Marshall, each with 14 points.
The Comets had six 3-pointers and were 17-of-22 from the free-throw line.
* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.