Despite a well-balanced game from Brian Haggett, the San Benito
Haybalers struggled in the third quarter and came up short against
Gunn 54-47 Saturday at the 2007 Seascape Resort Invitational in
Aptos.
Despite a well-balanced game from Brian Haggett, the San Benito Haybalers struggled in the third quarter and came up short against Gunn 54-47 Saturday at the 2007 Seascape Resort Invitational in Aptos.
The ‘Balers took sixth place out of eight teams as a result of the loss. League rival Gilroy finished third after they defeated Pioneer 59-50, and Watsonville beat host Aptos in the championship 68-44.
Playing for fifth place, though, the ‘Balers held strong against Gunn for much of the game. But the turning point came in the third quarter, where San Benito shot 4 of 14 from the field and were outscored 16-8 by the Titans.
Gunn was able to exploit San Benito’s defense in that quarter, and coach John Becerra said the ‘Balers over-committed.
“We didn’t cover the weak side,” Becerra said. “We’re going up to help out and we forget about our man.”
Aside from shooting 29 percent in the third, San Benito still managed to hit 40 percent (21 of 52) for the game.
Haggett had 19 points, six rebounds and five assists for San Benito, and guard Marty Bueno scored nine points and added four assists and three steals.
Tyler Ruiz and Kevin Burley each had eight points a piece for the ‘Balers, who finished 1-2 overall at the tournament.
“We’re being very aggressive and we’re hustling,” Becerra said, whose ‘Balers won the turnover battle 13-16 Saturday. “But for some reason, we’re not being very productive with our hustling. It seems that they got every loose ball.
“We’re right there. We’re close, but we’re not functioning on all cylinders.”
With the two teams tied 22-22 at halftime, Gunn opened the game up in the third behind Kyle Perricone’s 19 total points. The Titan offense clearly revolved around the 6-foot-3 forward, who routinely came off screens to get an open shot from the elbow.
But in the fourth, with San Benito trailing 48-39 with under three minutes to play, the ‘Balers instituted an intense defense that double-teamed the Titans’ ball-handler.
After two consecutive turnovers that lead to four points for San Benito, the ‘Balers cut the deficit to five points with 1:08 remaining.
But Gunn managed to get to the charity stripe late where Ryan Miller, who had 13 points on the night, hit 2 of 3 free throws to put the game away.
Getting to the line is something Becerra said the ‘Balers need to do more of, however, as San Benito shot only 3 of 7 for the game.
“Toward the end, we began to run our plays and play our basketball,” Becerra said. “We need to get it under control and not over-commit.”
San Benito (2-2) will play in another tournament this week, the Independence Fukushima Invitational, and will open with Cupertino tonight at 5:30 p.m.
Team 1 2 3 4 F
SB 8 14 8 17 47
GUNN 11 11 16 16 54
SB (47) – Bueno 4-17 0-0 9, Burley 3-3 2-2 8, Haggett 9-18 0-2 19, Ruiz 4-7 0-0 8, Zanella 1-5 1-3 3.
Three-point goals – Bueno 1, Haggett 1.
