Hollister goes 16-59 from the field and hits only one
three-pointer in loss
n By Joshua Staloch
Sports Editor
Hollister – The San Benito High boys basketball team spent all of Tuesday night looking for a way to find the bottom of the net.
To no avail.
Even with the league’s leading scorer, Kyle Sharp, relegated to the bench due to a sprained ankle, the Balers had a very uncharacteristic night shooting the basketball as they went 16-59 from the field and making only one three-pointer out of 17 attempts.
“The bottom line is that it’s tough to win games when you can’t make any of your shots,” said Hollister head coach David Kaplansky. “I really felt that we played well in the second half but it seemed like every time we had an opportunity to make a big shot and get something going, we just couldn’t hit them. And then (Live Oak) would come down and make us pay with a shot.”
The Balers simply couldn’t get anything going in the first half as they scored only 14 points to the Acorns’ 22 over the course of the game’s first 16 minutes.
Guard Eric Davis, who can be downright dangerous when his shot gets going, might have been trying to do too much on Tuesday in Sharp’s absence as he struggled to find his range from the parameter. But he gave the team a solid effort with his relentless drives into the paint and with a lot of hustle defense.
But, despite the team’s slow start and it’s poor shooting, the Balers made a game of it at the end, thanks largely to the play of Dean Wilkins and Kevin Jones.
With the score at 35-27 midway through the fourth following a Live Oak basket from Doug Porras, Davis went to the free-throw line after driving to the basket and getting fouled.
Davis hit the first shot from the stripe but his second shot just missed. But Wilkins was there for the offensive board and the put back, bringing the score to 35-30.
Hollister’s defense forced an Acorn turnover moments later and Jones, who had been giving his team’s shooters room with the solid screens he was setting, scored on a nice move in the paint to cut the Acorns lead to three at 35-32.
But Live Oak’s Matt Van Keulen, who led all scorers in the game with 22 points, slowed Hollister’s momentum with a three-pointer at the other end to get his team’s lead back out to six points.
Brandon Powell picked off an errant Hollister pass on the Balers’ next possession and easily scored at the other end, forcing San Benito into taking a timeout.
Jones continued to come up big for Hollister down the stretch. The San Benito forward pulled his team to within three points with a score underneath following an offensive board with less than two minutes left in the game.
But, just like he had done virtually every time the Haybalers got a whiff of the lead, Van Keulen proceeded to snuff out the Hollister spark with a big three at the other end. Van Keulen scored again moments later following an unproductive possession from the home team to put the Acorns up 44-36.
Jones continued to battle hard down low and managed to give the team one last glimmer of hope as he scored again off an offensive board to bring the score to 44-38.
But that’s as good as it got the rest of the way. Not long after Jones’ bucket, the Balers were forced to start fouling to preserve time.
“I felt that we were in a great position to win the game,” Kaplansky said. “I look at the way the game went and, if we would have knocked down a few of those three-pointers, we would have walked out of here winners tonight.”
San Benito is back in action on Thursday to host Gilroy. tip off is set for 7pm.
