After shooting a meager 28 percent (7 of 25) from the field in
the first half, resulting in a 24-17 halftime deficit, Gilroy
outshined San Benito in the second half behind strong rebounding,
an always-strong defense that forced 20 turnovers and Hamik’s
game-high 21 points, as the Mustangs took the season series from
San Benito with a 51-43 victory at Hollister’s Mattson Gym.
HOLLISTER
Greg Hamik had been in this position before. In fact, so too had his Gilroy teammates.
“They came out hard and we came out really slow,” said Hamik, the leading scorer for the Mustangs who had just four points in the first half against San Benito on Wednesday night. “We weren’t executing and we weren’t moving on offense. But in the second half, we made some adjustments.”
The halftime break has often acted as Gilroy’s flip-the-switch moment this season, and Wednesday night’s Tri-County Athletic League matchup against the rival Balers was no different.
After shooting a meager 28 percent (7 of 25) from the field in the first half, resulting in a 24-17 halftime deficit, Gilroy outshined San Benito in the second half behind strong rebounding, an always-strong defense that forced 20 turnovers and Hamik’s game-high 21 points, as the Mustangs took the season series from San Benito with a 51-43 victory at Hollister’s Mattson Gym.
Gilroy (8-2 TCAL 17-5), which outscored the Balers 34-19 in the second half and has now outscored its opponents in the third and fourth quarters by 240 points this season, wrapped up at least second place with the win, as well as the top Division I seed out of the TCAL.
“It was similar to last time,” said Gilroy head coach Jeremy Dirks, whose Mustangs trailed San Benito 25-17 on Jan. 15, only to outscore the Balers 47-28 in the second half en route to a 64-53 victory. “This first half and last first half, we weren’t getting our shots. We get a little stagnant in the half court, to be honest with you. The thing we do well is we push it, and if you’re gonna take away us pushing it, which is difficult to do, then we’ll have difficulties.”
While Gilroy’s full-court press was the story during the two teams’ previous meeting, and at least part of the story on Wednesday night as well, San Benito’s frustration from the officiating took on a life of its own, especially in the second half.
With team fouls ending 19-11 in favor of San Benito, the Balers were whistled for two technical fouls in the game, the latter of which came in the fourth quarter after Gilroy’s Michael Aldridge was awarded an and-1 free throw.
“I think we wanted more calls our way,” said San Benito’s Jordan Belton, who finished with a team-high 17 points behind a 5 of 8 performance from the field, 5 of 7 from the line. “All the emotion gathered up for this game. It’s a rivalry, but we couldn’t control our emotions as much we should have, myself included.
“Other than that, it was just boards and turnovers.”
Aldridge made the and-1 freebie, while Hamik followed by sinking a pair of tech free throws, and finished 12 of 14 from the charity stripe. Gilroy, meanwhile, was 17 of 27 in the game, compared with San Benito’s 9 of 11 performance.
“All I can say is our players haven’t reacted that way this year — the entire year,” San Benito head coach Tracy Carpenter said. “So, there was some frustration and it hurt us.
“And Hamik is really good at making free throws at the end of the game. He’s done that twice.”
On Jan. 15, Hamik was 11 of 11 from the free-throw line, despite a slow start from the field.
“You just have to forget about it,” said Hamik, who had a similarly slow start on Wednesday. “My coach was getting on me in the locker room. I just had to come out with more intensity and ready to play.”
Things were most definitely faring San Benito’s way in the first half, though. Although Gilroy jumped out to a 7-2 lead after Michael Hartman deposited a fast break lay-up in transition, the Balers closed the opening quarter on a 6-2 run behind a Tyler Rickard 3-pointer.
The momentum only carried over into the second stanza for San Benito, which outscored Gilroy 16-8. Rickard started the period with a put-back jumper in the paint, then delivered an acrobatic save on the baseline to teammate Cooper Sepulveda, who drained one of his two 3-pointers from the shoulder.
Sepulveda finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, while Rickard chimed in with nine points and five rebounds.
“We played pretty decent defense in the first half. We just weren’t executing on offense,” Hamik said. “When we started moving more on offense, that was the difference.”
Gilroy made it a seven-point game just before the half when Andrel Gaines received an outlet pass from Hartman in transition, and banked in an easy lay-in to make it 24-17 San Benito at the break.
“The first half, we denied their best man Hamik and limited him as much as we could and kept them out of their game,” Belton said. “It’s fast paced. That’s what they want to play.”
Belton’s transition lay-in with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter made it a 28-22 San Benito lead, but the game quickly changed momentum when the Balers were called for their first technical foul.
Hamik made both ensuing free throws to pull Gilroy to within two points, made a jumper 14 seconds later to tie the game at 28-all, then pocketed the go-ahead basket off a steal with nine seconds remaining in the period to give the Mustangs a 30-28 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Hamik even drained a 3-pointer to open the final period, and Gilroy never looked back.
“That is what they do,” Carpenter said. “Their job is to speed up the game, go up and down (the court) and wear you down.
“I thought we had a good game plan, but we did get a little tired.”
San Benito’s second tech pushed Gilroy out to a 10-point lead less than four minutes into the fourth quarter, while the lead blossomed to 13 before San Benito brought it back to six points with 26 seconds remaining in regulation.
“I can’t fault their effort. They busted their humps,” Carpenter said. “But you have to give credit to Gilroy.”
San Benito (5-4 TCAL, 13-8) will visit undefeated Palma on Friday, while the Mustangs will host North Salinas. Game times are 7 p.m.
Gilroy will wrap up the regular season next Friday at Palma.
“If someone else, (North) Salinas or Hollister beats them, then they have one loss,” Dirks said of Palma. “We still have a chance and we’re gonna go for it … We’re gonna win-out and hopefully someone catches them.”
Notes:
San Benito shot 36 percent (15 of 42) from the field and 82 percent (9 of 11) from the free-throw line … Gilroy shot 34 percent (16 of 47) from the field and 63 percent (17 of 27) from the free-throw line … A fan was ejected from the bleachers following San Benito’s second technical foul, resulting in a five- to 10-minute delay in action.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
GILR 9 8 13 21 51
SANB 8 16 4 15 43
Gilroy (51): M. Aldridge 3-5 2-4 8, A. Gaines 4-14 1-3 9, G. Hamik 4-11 12-14 21, M. Hartman 3-11 1-2 7, D. Opere 1-2 2-4 4, C. Yawary 1-2 0-0 2.
Three-point goals: G. Hamik 1.
San Benito (43): J. Belton 5-8 5-7 17, E. Olbring 1-3 0-0 2, T. Rickard 4-9 0-0 9, C. Sepulveda 3-8 4-4 11, K. Vallejo 1-7 0-0 2, D. Wingo 1-2 0-0 2.
Three-point goals: J. Belton 2, T. Rickard 1, C. Sepulveda 1.
