The San Benito boys basketball team was ahead right from the
start during Tuesday’s home opener, but visiting San Lorenzo Valley
was never far behind.
The Haybalers (6-1) couldn’t get any momentum going until the
fourth quarter but did get several key baskets when it counted in
the 65-51 win.
The San Benito boys basketball team was ahead right from the start during Tuesday’s home opener, but visiting San Lorenzo Valley was never far behind.
The Haybalers (6-1) couldn’t get any momentum going until the fourth quarter but did get several key baskets when it counted in the 65-51 win.
“I thought we played to their tempo for three quarters,” said Baler coach David Kaplansky. “They spread the ball out, and they took a lot of time off the shot clock. We kind of became a little complacent defensively.”
The teams had met earlier this season in a tournament game that the Balers won 65-47. San Lorenzo coach Dean Riggins knew he couldn’t let the Balers win the post game again.
“Defensively, we tried to close in on the guys in the middle and keep the guy out of the high post,” Riggins said. “With their size, they were able to wear us down.”
In the last matchup of the two teams, Kyle Sharp led the Baler scoring with 28 points. He was limited to a mere 19 points Tuesday.
“He is a very good player,” Riggins said. “We tried playing a little man-to-man out of our triangle-two. Even then, he could still come in and put it back off the glass. We wanted to let the guards beat us, but they had a couple key shots at the right time.”
The Baler guards drained seven three-pointers in the game – three by Eric Davis, three by Vince Bautista and one by Mike Moisa. All three of Bautista’s treys came in the second half.
“They gave us some real good three looks, which opened it up for the post,” Kaplansky said. “San Lorenzo tried to take Kyle out of the game by denying him and overplaying him. But other players stepped up. As long as the guys feel confident, key buckets will come.”
The Balers opened up a 7-0 lead to start the game. San Lorenzo (2-6) got within two points a couple times in the first quarter, but a couple steals by Davis and conversions on the other end helped the Balers retain the lead.
Davis had 16 points for San Benito, including a couple nice athletic baskets.
The Balers were up 29-23 at the half. San Lorenzo got within three late in the third quarter but couldn’t get any closer.
Kevin Zanella, who had eight points in the game, had a couple buckets off feeds from Davis and Moisa to help move the Balers up 10 points with five minutes left.
“In the fourth quarter, we looked to push the ball a little more,” Kaplansky said. “Some teams will try to attack us that way – trying to slow down the tempo and get us to play 25 or 30 seconds on defense.”
With under a minute to go, the Balers had the play everyone in the stands was waiting for. Sharp threw down a two-handed dunk on the breakaway pass by Davis to put an exclamation point on the win.
The Balers will play in the Bob Hagen tournament in Gilroy beginning Thursday at 5 p.m. against Aptos. The next game will be Friday against either North County or Monterey.
