Sharp goes for 30, Baladad and Bautista have big shooting nights
as Balers advance to second round
Hollister – It was a back-and-forth battle the whole way. But when the dust settled on Thursday night’s overtime playoff opener at San Benito High, it was the Haybalers with the 61-56 edge on the scoreboard and a spot in the second round of the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“(Milpitas) was just about the last team we wanted to face out of everybody,” said Hollister head coach David Kaplansky of Thursday’s competition. “They move the ball well and they have a lot of great athletes. So, we got a good, ,competitive team in the first round and hopefully, that will make us better coming into Saturday’s game.”
The Trojans got off to a hot start behind the play of standout guard Josh Ducote to jump out to a 6-2 lead before Darryl Baladad hit from outside to bring Hollister to within two. Baladad and teammate Eric Davis got together to force a turnover on Milpitas’ next possession, resulting in a point from the free-throw line by Kyle Sharp.
Sharp gave the Balers their first lead moments later with an NBA-caliber turnaround jumper from the top of the arc. But the Trojans refused to be intimidated and, by the end of the first, the score was tied at 11.
The game’s second quarter brought more of the same. Ian Whiteley scored on Hollister’s first possession courtesy of a nice assist from Davis but both teams were playing with intensity on both sides of the ball and neither could gain a significant advantage on the scoreboard, leaving things tied up at 24 heading into the half.
The third quarter started with a three from Milpitas’ Adam Close but Hollister’s Danny Isaacson responded with a three of his own at the other end. With the score tied at 31 later in the third, San Benito’s Davis started to look to get his shot going. After a miss that obviously got the Hollister guard upset, he made a great steal against the Milpitas ball handler at midcourt and took it in for the score. Davis would hit again later in the quarter to put his team up by three at 35-32.
“It was a good game, I think everyone did a good job tonight,” Davis said. “Darryl was knocking down his shots, Vince (Bautista) was too. Kyle was doing his thing. It was a good win but I think we’re going to have to pick up our intensity in the next game.”
Late in the fourth, the Balers found themselves up 49-44 after a bucket from Sharp. But Milpitas’ next play shifted the game’s momentum and got the Trojans back into the game. Milpitas had been trying to use Ducote’s leaping ability to its advantage all night long. And with less than two minutes left to play, Ducote delivered with a highlight reel style alley-oop dunk off of an inbounds pass, plus the foul. Hollister turned the ball over on its next possession and the Trojans responded with a score at the other end to tie things up at 49.
Five seconds left to play in regulation and all eyes in the gym were on Ducote, who was holding at the top of the key for the final shot. Ducote drove to the left side of the court and lofted a runner up towards the basket. Ducote’s shot just missed, sending the game into overtime.
The double and triple teams that Sharp was seeing all night were not only creating open looks for the hot-handed Baladad, they were resulting in a lot of trips to the charity stripe for the league’s top scorer. And, down the stretch, Sharp delivered.
After Baladad blocked the Trojans’ first shot of overtime, Sharp went to work down low, pulling down a board and putting it back up for two and a foul that knocked Milpitas’ Adam Close out of the game with five. Sharp converted to put Hollister up 52-49 before his tough play inside resulted in Ramez Zueirk’s fifth foul and another two points from the line.
“I felt that in overtime, we defended well and got some good shots,” Kaplansky said. “I thought Baladad had a great game tonight. They were taking his man and doubling Kyle with him and Darryl was able to hit some key shots for us. Vince Bautista also did a good job for us, knocking down a couple of key three-pointers. I also thought we got some good minutes out of John Crepeau tonight.”
The Balers will face the winner of Salinas/Fremont on Saturday at 1pm at Foothill College
