Earlier this year, head coach David Kaplansky called Jordan Belton his closer, and Wednesday in a defensive-grudge match with Palma, Belton proved his head coach right.
The boys basketball team’s leading scorer put away Palma with two late free throws and helped lead, along with Brian Bacerra, a strong defensive push to prevent game-tying points from Palma. In a game where San Benito led 13-2 after the first quarter, the Balers held onto a 37-34 victory in front of a raucous and packed Mattson Gym.
After running off to a quick 11-point lead, the Balers allowed the Chieftains to slowly climb their way back into the game – eventually taking a 31-30 lead. But unlike games earlier this season against Salinas and Mills, the Balers responded with seven of the game’s final 11 points.
Behind Belton, who tallied three of those points and a team-high 12 points, the Balers quickly took back the lead. A lead they would never again relinquish.
But near the end, it didn’t always seem that way.
After Belton sank two free throws with 8 seconds left, Palma had one more chance. That one chance turned into three, as Palma’s Noah Allen, who scored a game-high 18 points off the bench, missed three chances to tie the game from beyond the arc.
Despite the dominant box-score for Allen, the Balers contained the Palma threat with a strong – and surprising – zone defense coming out at halftime.
“We don’t run it often,” Kaplansky said. “I made a couple of adjustment and played guys at different areas and it helped us attack them a little better. We just matched up in that zone with them. It was better than the man-to-man, which was broken down too much.”
The switch changed momentum back to the Balers’ side after a struggle in the second quarter. After limiting Palma to only one basket in the game’s first eight minutes, the Palma offense came alive in the second quarter. Behind Allen and Jack Powers, Palma struck for 13 points and pulled within three points of the Balers at halftime.
“At halftime, we really had to re-group because we got punched in the face in the second quarter,” Kaplansky said. “It was pretty much a tale of two stories in the first and second quarter. They are great program. It’s a great win for our team.”
The defense, though, again was the Balers savior in the end. Despite tying San Benito’s season-low for points in a game, the Balers defense won the game.
It wasn’t easy, though, with Allen controlling the Palma attack.
“It’s hard to stay in front of him, you really have to gang-defense to stop him and get in front of him,” Bacerra said.
To slow down the Palma big man, the Balers rotated its zone against Allen, at times placing two men on him.
“I think that we just didn’t have any good looks,” Palma head coach Paul Alioto said “When we had some good looks, we didn’t get anything to fall. And they made shots.
They were better than us tonight.”
Although, it’s only the third league game of the season, the home game was a must win for the Balers.
“We needed this win because the last close game we were in we didn’t finish,” Kaplansky said. “And the guys needed to know what it feels like to close out a tough opponent. We have to protect our home court, that’s our goal.”
He continued, “It was a great community win.”
The Balers, now 3-0 in league play and 12-3 overall, host Alisal at 7 p.m. Friday.
