Basketball is a game of runs, and Friday night, Palma’s one run was enough to hold off San Benito 52-44 in a battle for sole possession of first place in the Tri-County Athletic League.
The loss was the Balers’ second of the league season, and first to Palma this year. San Benito beat the Chieftains on Jan. 11 37-34.
Friday’s game mirrored the tight-defensive game from nearly a month ago. Both teams struggled early to find an offensive rhythm as each team turned the ball over six times in the first quarter.
The difference this time around came from Noah Allen. The Palma junior struggled in the matchup earlier this year, but Friday he was – at times – dominant.
“They have a good player,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said. “The kid is good. He has gotten a lot better than the last time we played them. You have to respect the fact that he was able to make his shots this time around. It seemed like he has been riding a hot hand, and it was shown tonight. Credit Allen for making shots tonight.”
Allen scored a game-high 23 points, blocked two shots and electrified the crowd with a pair of dunks.
“He is a great player,” Kaplansky said. “I’m proud of the guys. We did a good job, but they have a great player.”
In the game’s first eight minutes, the Balers held Allen to two points. With a strong defensive showing, San Benito took an early 9-8 lead after the first quarter.
But in the second, Allen and Chieftains started to find their rhythm.
“I think we just took care of the ball. We had six turnovers in the first quarter against their zone,” Palma head coach Paul Alioto said. “Part of that was their defense and part of it was us. I thought that later on, we did a good job of taking care of the ball. In the second quarter and most of the third quarter, we took care of the ball and got shots. We are shooting the ball pretty well so we have a chance to make some shots.”
Palma pulled away in the second quarter, scoring 18 points and building a quick double-digit lead. San Benito finally responded with a timely 3-point shot by Jordan Belton.
Belton, who finished the game with 14 points, gave the Balers a much-needed spark that ended the Palma rally.
San Benito pulled the game to 24-18 before a pair of free throws gave Palma a 26-18 halftime lead.
In the second half, Palma scored seven quick points and extended its lead to 33-18 before San Benito settled down.
Down 15, just minutes into the third quarter, Kaplansky called a timeout to regroup the Balers.
“Coach called that timeout and told us, ‘Championship basketball this is not what we are proving what we are. We are not proving ourselves playing this way. So if you want to play go out on the court. If not, stay here,'” Belton said. “I feel like that really inspired everybody into working hard and to just show the community and the fans that we have the fight to win this game and we can come back. When they got that lead, I don’t think we got discouraged. We thought we could win this game and we can come back.”
The Balers turned up the defense and clamped down on Allen and Palma.
San Benito forced 13 turnovers in the game – most coming in the first half – but gave the ball back to Palma 15 times.
The sharpshooting of Hyram Miskin, who scored a team-high 15 points, team defense and the rebounding of Jacob Tonascia allowed the Balers to stay close and pull within seven points in the second half.
“It shows that we are growing up,” Belton said. “We are growing up with every play and every challenge we go through. We are getting through adversity. It shows us growing up and becoming men. It shows us that you can knock us back but we are still going to fight for it until the end. We are going to give it our all.”
Despite the fight, the Balers could never pull closer, though. Coming back from large deficits twice,tired out San Benito.
“I was really proud of their effort when they stretched it out to 15,” Kaplansky said. “They played hard. They played in a tough environment. But we had some key turnovers that led to too many easy baskets for them. Their run outs just started adding up there and it seemed to wear us out where we weren’t executing our passes very well.”
San Benito, now 7-2 in the TCAL and 16-5 overall, travels to Alisal at 7 p.m. Wednesday to continue league play.
The Balers, now in second place for the first time this year, trail Palma by one game in the TCAL standings.
