Jason Canchola drops 23 points Thursday night and San Benito
holds on for 70-66 overtime victory at Everett Alvarez; ‘Balers
suddenly sit at 3-4 in the TCAL and one full game out of second
place
SALINAS
One week ago, San Benito was searching for its first win. They were the only team in the Tri-County Athletic League without a single victory, and had fallen on the unfortunate end of several close losses.
My how things have changed.
Led by a season-high 23 points from senior wing Jason Canchola, the Haybalers survived several scares late and staved off host Everett Alvarez in a wild 70-66 overtime victory in Salinas on Thursday night.
The win, San Benito’s third straight, is sweet revenge for the ‘Balers, which lost to the Eagles 69-53 on Jan. 6 after Alvarez made 10 3-pointers at Hollister’s Mattson Gym. Not only that, but the last team in the TCAL to record a win is suddenly 3-4 in league, 11-10 overall, and one full game out of second place.
“I think we’re playing a bit more relaxed out there,” said junior forward Kyle Vallejo, who finished with 10 points Thursday. “We’re not as stressed trying to go after it. We had nothing to lose, 0-4 (in league) going into it and we’re playing a little more relaxed.”
Playing relaxed certainly helps when you’re on the road and in overtime.
After the Eagles (2-5 TCAL, 14-6) failed on three consecutive game-winning attempts in the final 37 seconds of a 58-all game, San Benito set the tone in the extra four-minute period when Vallejo connected on 2 of 2 free throws to start, and Canchola sunk a trey to put the ‘Balers up by five early on.
“I think we’re coming through a little bit more in pressure situations,” Vallejo said.
Alvarez cut the deficit to two points with 1:14 remaining in overtime when Jordan Gomez made a jumper in the paint. But San Benito moved the ball around the perimeter on the ensuing possession, wasting plenty of clock before Canchola drilled the dagger when he hit another 3-pointer with 40 ticks left.
Of his 23 points Thursday, Canchola scored 12 in the fourth quarter and overtime period alone, including a pair of 1-and-1 free throws in the closing seconds that kept the Eagles grounded.
“I don’t think it should have (gone to overtime), but they’re a good team,” Canchola said. “They make a lot of 3’s.”
San Benito played a man-to-man defense for much of the game in order to defend Alvarez’ perimeter shooting, and although the Eagles still managed to connect on eight 3-pointers, the ‘Balers contested each and every one of them and never allowed Alvarez to find a long-distance groove.
“We played a zone (defense) mostly all last game, so we decided to go man (Thursday) and it worked,” said point guard Tim Von Urff, who guarded Alvarez’ Preston Juarez. Juarez made six 3-pointers last game, but was held to just 12 points on 4 of 16 shooting Thursday.
“He’s a good shooter, and he was shooting it from a couple of feet behind the line,” Von Urff added. “But we had to get in his face as much as we could and I think we did a pretty good job on him.
“We’ve started playing hard. This winning streak, just trying to keep it alive and doing what we can, playing like how we know we can.”
The ‘Balers built an eight-point lead when they opened the second quarter on a 7-0 spurt, but the Eagles moved to a zone defense and silenced San Benito for the remainder of the quarter. Aside from that lead, however, neither team had more than a five-point edge for the remainder of the contest.
The Eagles were led by 24 points from Gomez and 20 points from Sergio Lopez, who scored the majority of his points by slashing to the hoop and catching San Benito’s transition defense off-guard each time.
“He was just driving to the basket on us,” San Benito head coach John Becerra said. “He dribbled down and we couldn’t get back in time.”
As soon as it seemed to matter, though, San Benito stepped up. Gomez and Lopez were held to a combined nine points in the fourth quarter and overtime period, while the ‘Balers, which were a dismal 3 of 12 from the free throw line in the first three quarters, finished the game 8 of 11.
“You’ve got to give theses guys a lot of credit,” Becerra said. “They work hard and they’re right there.”
Dominic Zanella finished with 11 points Thursday, while Tyler Rickard had 10 and Eric Elayda scored nine.
San Benito will enjoy a bye before they get a second chance next Thursday against North Salinas, which previously edged the ‘Balers 53-52 on Jan. 13.
“We lost two games by one (point),” Canchola said. “We knew we were there, we just had to finish it.”
Notes:
San Benito shot 39 percent (26 of 66) from the field, 11 of 23 from the free throw line … Alvarez shot 36 percent (23 of 64) from the field, 12 of 18 from the line … The ‘Balers committed 12 turnovers, while Alvarez had 14 … 70 points was the most San Benito has scored this season since they defeated Watsonville 75-23 on Dec. 6.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 OT F
SB 19 10 17 12 12 70
EA 18 11 16 13 8 66
San Benito (70): J. Canchola 9-18 2-4 23, E. Elayda 4-9 0-0 9, J. King 1-1 0-0 2, T. Rickard 3-6 2-3 10, T. Von Urff 2-6 0-0 5, K. Vallejo 2-11 6-8 10, D. Zanella 5-11 1-6 11.
Three-point goals: J. Canchola 3, E. Elayda 1, T. Rickard 2, T. Von Urff 1.
Salinas (66): G. Flores 1-4 0-0 2, J. Gomez 8-17 4-6 24, P. Juarez 4-16 0-0 12, S. Lopez 8-14 4-5 20, E. Perez 1-5 3-6 5, A. Jimenez 1-3 1-1 3.
Three-point goals: J. Gomez 4, P. Juarez 4.
JV Note:
The San Benito boys junior varsity basketball team defeated Everett Alvarez 70-56 Thursday night in Salinas.
