The craziest things happen at preseason basketball
tournaments.
The craziest things happen at preseason basketball tournaments. Hollister High faced tiny Downtown College Prep of San Jose in Wednesday’s first round of the Overfelt Boys Baksetball Invitational Tournament, and the Balers eked out a hard-fought 110-6 (no typo) victory.
The 110 points, unless proven otherwise, set a school record for most points in a game and the 6-point total set an all-time low for an opponent.
It really wasn’t the Balers (2-0) fault. The Lobos were a late replacement for Richmond of Oakland, which canceled at the last minute.
“Their coach apologized to me after the game,” said Baler head coach David Kaplansky. “There was nothing for him to apologize for. It wasn’t their fault. I saw them warmup so I pulled off the press before the game started. We sat in a 2-3 zone and they came down and just gave the ball to us. I couldn’t tell my kids not to shoot it. We had five jump shots the whole game.”
Kyle Sharp led the Balers with 25 points, followed by Anthony Butler’s 17. Jeff Fajardo had 12, while Jason Sims had 11.
The problem with the lack of resistance was that the Balers didn’t get much out of the matchup. Now, they are pitted against one of the most intimidating lineups in the state in Newark Memorial, the CIF Division II state runner-up in 2000. Game time tonight is 6:30 p.m.
Newark Memorial blew out host Mt. Pleasant Wednesday.
“They’re 6-10, 6-9, 6-7 in the frontline,” said Kaplansky of Newark Memorial. “They’re like a pro team. Their center just took three drop steps and dunked it ever time. Mt. Pleasant played them tough for a quarter, but Newark goes 14 deep. They keep coming in waves. And Mt. Pleasant wasn’t chump change. We’re going to find out what kind of team we are (tonight). No matter if we win or lose, we’ll be battle-tested.”
Should the Balers win tonight, they’ll play in Friday’s championship game at 8 p.m. A loss would pit them in Friday’s third place game, which is at 6:30 p.m.
