San Benito opens Condor Christmas Classic with 59-51 win over
Carmel Monday
CASTROVILLE
Jason Canchola scored 21 points, Kyle Vallejo had 12 and the San Benito boys basketball team slipped past the Carmel Padres 59-51 Monday in the opening round of the Condor Christmas Classic in Castroville.
It is San Benito’s fourth straight victory, as the team improves to 7-4 overall this season.
The win over Carmel (2-8) pushes the Haybalers to the next round, where they will take on Monday’s winner between host North Monterey County and Evergreen Valley.
Results from that game were not available at press time. San Benito will play the victor, though, at 8 p.m., Tuesday night at North Monterey County High School in Castroville.
After grasping to a narrow 30-28 lead at halftime against Carmel Monday, San Benito opened up the game in the third quarter when they outscored the Padres 15-7.
However, costly miscues down the stretch allowed Carmel to cut the deficit and keep the game interesting.
“They stayed with us for most of the game,” San Benito assistant coach Dan Quinn said. “We made some mistakes down the stretch that tightened the score up, but we did a good job.”
Haybalers Eric Elayda and Tyler Rickard turned in with eight- and seven-point performances on Monday.
Last year, San Benito finished in third place at the Condor Christmas Classic.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SAN 16 14 15 14 59
CAR 12 16 7 16 51
San Benito (59) – Vallejo 6 0 0-7 12, Von Urff 0 0 2-4 2, Elayda 1 2 0-0 8, Canchola 7 2 1-3 21, Rickard 3 0 1-1 7, Corral 2 0 1-1 5, Zanella 2 0 0-1 4.
