San Benito snaps two-game drought with 50-43 win at Salinas
Thursday night
SALINAS
The San Benito Haybalers will not be backing their way into the playoffs, not after they picked up a gutsy win in Salinas on Thursday night.
After Cowboy Kyle Vasher nailed a jumper from the corner to put host Salinas up by one with under two minutes remaining, San Benito’s Eric Elayda responded with one of this three treys in the game, giving the Haybalers a two-point lead they wouldn’t surrender.
Clutch free throws from Tim Von Urff kept the Cowboys at bay, though, as San Benito staved off Salinas 50-43 Thursday night on the road.
The win snaps a two-game losing streak for the ‘Balers, who finish the regular season at 6-6 in the Tri-County Athletic League and 14-12 overall.
Although a win over Alisal on Tuesday would have supplied San Benito with a better seed in next week’s Central Coast Section Division I playoffs – as it appears the Trojans will finish ahead of the ‘Balers in the TCAL since they defeated league champion Palma – Thursday’s big road victory is sure to be a confidence boost for San Benito as it came against a physically bigger Salinas squad.
The ‘Balers were forced to play a zone defense all game in order to offset Salinas’ size, with Vasher, who scored a team-high 17 points, standing 6-foot-5.
San Benito’s big, Dominic Zanella, did one better and dropped 18 points and pulled down nine rebounds.
“We came out very aggressive, very physical,” San Benito head coach John Becerra said.
And good thing. Salinas was celebrating its Homecoming, but the ‘Balers took the crowd out of the game early when they outscored the Cowboys 15-2 after the first quarter.
Of course, it was short lived.
Salinas responded with a 1-3-1 press and marched right back into the game, outscoring San Benito 14-3 in the second quarter.
The ‘Balers led at the break 18-16.
“It got us out of our rhythm,” Becerra said of the 1-3-1. “They also adjusted to our defense and to what we were doing and we weren’t used to it.”
Becerra tweaked the zone defense in the second half as a result, and behind another big 3-pointer from Elayda off the bench, San Benito built a 32-25 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
The Cowboys began to mount a comeback in the final period, though, and took a one-point lead when Vasher sunk the jumper from the corner.
After Elayda hit the ensuing 3-pointer, San Benito buckled down on defense.
“We just played good defense and they couldn’t score,” Becerra said. “They had to foul us.”
The only problem was that Salinas wasn’t near the bonus and had to foul the ‘Balers three or four times before finally putting Von Urff on the line, Becerra said.
Von Urff, who only had six points in the contest, hit four straight free throws in the final minute of regulation to keep San Benito afloat.
“That was great,” Becerra said. “They put Tim on the foul line and he was perfect.”
Becerra said Kyle Vallejo also hit a pair of clutch free throws at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Vallejo finished with six points and six rebounds.
Elayda had nine points – all from behind the arc – and Jason Canchola had eight.
San Benito will now await its CCS seeding, which will be announced on Saturday.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SANB 15 3 14 18 50
SALI 2 14 9 18 43
San Benito (50): K. Vallejo 2 0 2-4 6, T. Von Urff 1 0 4-4 6, E. Elayda 0 3 0-0 9, J. Canchola 2 1 1-2 8, T. Rickard 0 1 0-0 3, D. Zanella 6 0 6-9 18.
