The 2004-05 season was a magical one for the San Benito
High boys basketball team, but it came to an end on Tuesday
night as the
Haybalers fell to Juniper Serra, 63-51 in the semifinal round of
the Central
Coast Section playoffs.
Los Altos Hills – The 2004-05 season was a magical one for the San Benito
High boys basketball team, but it came to an end on Tuesday night as the
Haybalers fell to Juniper Serra, 63-51 in the semifinal round of the Central
Coast Section playoffs.
“Serra is a very talented team, a very experienced team. I felt that we just
came out flat in the first couple minutes of the basketball game,” said San
Benito head coach David Kaplansky from the locker room after the game.
“Overall though, I couldn‚t be more proud of our team, the way they competed
the majority of the game. If you take out the first minute and a half of the
first quarter and the first minute and a half of the third, who knows, maybe
we’d be playing in overtime right now.’
The Padres came out with a flurry of scoring to start both the first and the
second halves. Serra jumped out to a 9-0 lead early in the contest, sparked
by a three from Chaz Thomas and followed by a bucket on the inside from
Tommy McMahon. The Padres further frustrated the Balers moments later when a
steal by Decensae White resulted in a powerful dunk by McMahon at the other
end.
Hollister’s first score didn‚t come until almost midway through the opening
quarter when Daryl Baladad got a steal and took it in for two. Hollister‚s
Kyle Sharp got his shot going shortly after that with a nice banker from the
low post and the Balers began to chip away at the Padres‚ lead. A tough shot
underneath from San Benito’s John Crepeau with less than two minutes
remaining brought the Balers to within seven at 17-10 but Serra finished the
quarter up 21-10, putting an exclamation mark on the opening eight minutes
with another dunk, this time from White off a stolen inbounds pass.
The Haybalers started the second quarter hot, scoring four unanswered points
to cut the lead to seven. Baladad scored after pulling down an offensive
board and then, following a defensive stop by Hollister, Eric Davis hit a
pull-up jumper that prompted Padres coach Chuck Rapp into taking a timeout.
The Padres, following the timeout, responded to the Hollister run by
outscoring the Balers 9-4 over the course of the next two and a half minutes
to take a 32-20 lead into the locker room at the break.
“We never got the lead and that hurt us,” Kaplansky said. “I felt that the
kids showed a lot of character trying to get the lead and close the gap but
it seemed that every time we got close, (Serra) just widened the gap a
little bit.”
The Padres started the third quarter with a 6-0 run before Davis found Sharp
underneath with a nice pass and, once again, the Balers began to reel the
Padres in. Baladad‚s tough drives into the lane earned him four quick shots
at the charity stripe and he hit all of them. Sharp then converted a shot
underneath with a Serra defender draped all over him, bringing the score to
38-28 and forcing Serra into calling another timeout.
Whatever strategy coach Rapp was using to get his team motivated during
those timeouts, it was working. The Padres came out of the break in action
and hit two three-pointers. Davis answered with a three of his own for
Hollister but Serra maintained it‚s 10-point lead to start the fourth
quarter up 48-38.
“I told the kids, ‘Hey, that‚s a good team you’re playing. You’re not going
to roll them out, they’re going to come back and battle‚'” Rapp said. “I
thought it was a real veteran game where we controlled tempo and answered
their runs to keep our lead at 10. It was kind of workman-like in the second
half.”
The Balers started the fourth with a lot of intensity on both sides of the
ball but Serra‚s shooters held the Hollister team at bay. McMahon, working
off of good screens from his teammates, nailed a three-pointer to start the
quarter but Hollister’s Danny Isaacson answered with a shot from beyond the
arc. That was how the fourth quarter unfolded. Every time the Balers got a
little momentum going, the Padres would slam the door shut with a shot from
deep, or a drive to the bucket.
“This has been a great group,” Kaplansky said. “This is our third year in a
row getting this deep in the playoffs. We‚ve had a great group of seniors,
they’ll be a tough class to follow. I’m just proud of my team’s effort.”
