For the first time, the San Benito boys basketball team was crowned the champions of the Gilroy High Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament on Saturday.
The Balers pulled away from Gilroy High in the second half to runaway with a 52-37 victory in the tournament finale.
In the opening moments of the game, though, the game seemed to still be in the balance for the two squads as neither could make an early shot.
“We were getting some open looks, but they just weren’t falling,” Gilroy head coach Matt Tait said after the Gilroy loss.
In the game’s first four minutes, the two teams combined for only five points. But then San Benito started to make its shots.
“We just started to settle down a bit,” said Jordan Belton, who was named the tournament’s MVP.
Led by the sharp shooting of Isaiah Acfalle, Hyram Miskin, Belton and Jacob Tonascia, San Benito began to chip away at the strong Gilroy defense. Three Balers scored in double figures Saturday. Acfalle led the way with 15 points, including nine in a dominant third quarter. Belton added 14 points and Tonascia ended with 10 points in the game.
Penetrating with ball and finding the open perimeter shooters allowed the Balers to finally jump on the Mustangs, who struggled from the floor all night.
Miskin finally got the Balers going in the opening moments of the second quarter with a long 3-pointer from the corner. Afterward, San Benito started to find others open.
Defensively, San Benito stayed strong, forcing the Mustangs to take contested shoots.
“They are a tough team,” Charles Walker said. “We hung around with them for a while, but we didn’t make our shots.”
Tait agreed but was proud of his team’s effort, he said.
“Against at team like that you have to make your shots,” he said. “We just didn’t and they did. In a close game like that, where neither team wants to run with the ball, you have to make your shots.”
San Benito head coach David Kaplansky thought the Balers defense limited the Mustang chances and started to give the team momentum as the game went along.
“I was really proud of the kids defensive effort tonight,” he said. “They did a good job.”
After San Benito jumped to a 15-point lead in the third quarter, the two teams traded shots and offensive opportunities.
Gilroy’s Christian Goldstein gave the Mustangs late in the game, as he started to drive to the basket and sink his shots. But on the defensive end, the Mustangs couldn’t get out of foul trouble and sent San Benito to the free-throw line eight times in the final quarter.
From the line, San Benito sank seven of those eight opportunities to hold the lead.
“They showed some toughness at the end there,” Kaplansky said. “When Gilroy made that push, and we had to make those free throws, we did,”
Two Mustangs – Walkers and Goldstein – scored 11 points to lead the Mustangs in the loss.
Overall, Gilroy moved its record to 3-5 in the tournament – a bit improvement from the start of the season, Tait said.
“We are getting better every game,” Tait said.
San Benito, now 6-2, has now won five games in a row after dropping the two of the season first three games.
“We played a lot better this weekend,” Kaplansky said. “We came together and it showed.”
San Benito hosts Watsonville at 7 p.m. Monday. The Mustangs next play in the Sobrato Tournament on Dec. 27. The Mustangs open the tournament against Damonte Ranch at 6 p.m.
Look back for a recap of the weekend’s action in Tuesday’s Free Lance.
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