GILROY
–– Vince Bautista received the inbounds pass with two seconds
left in the game. He heaved the ball up as he was tackled by an
Aptos player, and the ball miraculously found its way off the glass
and into the hoop with one second showing on the clock.
But the three-point shot from near half court was called off as
referees ruled the clock wasn’t started on time.
GILROY –– Vince Bautista received the inbounds pass with two seconds left in the game. He heaved the ball up as he was tackled by an Aptos player, and the ball miraculously found its way off the glass and into the hoop with one second showing on the clock.
But the three-point shot from near half court was called off as referees ruled the clock wasn’t started on time.
“They didn’t call a travel, so if there was no travel the bucket should have counted,” said Baler coach David Kaplansky. “Even though time hadn’t expired, they called time because the clock hadn’t been started.”
The basket would have sent the Balers into overtime during the first round of the 24th Annual Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament on Thursday afternoon.
But instead the Balers (6-2) wound up with a 53-50 loss. San Benito will continue play today against Monterey at 3:30 p.m.
“We knew it would be a tough game,” said Aptos coach Joseph Smith, whose team is 4-5. “Each game for us is a game of peaks and valleys, and we just happened to peak at the end. Our defense really helped us out down the stretch.”
“They played harder than we did and were getting to every loose ball,” Kaplansky said. “They out rebounded us in key situations.”
The Balers were up by just three points going into the fourth quarter, and the Mariners were quickly able to take the lead.
Kyle Sharp had a big three-pointer to give the Balers the 43-42 edge with 3:30 left. But the lead was short lived.
The Balers were behind 48-43 with about two minutes to go. Kevin Zanella hustled to pick up a loose ball and put it back in, and Moisa tied the game at 48 with a big three-pointer with 1:09 to go.
San Benito received the ball back with a 54 seconds to go, and Sharp grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in to give the Balers the 50-48 advantage with 30 seconds to go.
The Balers called a timeout to discuss ways to defend against the three after the Aptos perimeter shooters checked into the game.
When Anthony Butler stripped Kyle Worden in the post with 15 seconds left, the game appeared to be over. But Worden came up with a steal of his own and made the foul shot to give the Mariners back the lead.
A Baler turnover with seven seconds left led to two more free throws by Worden. The Baler inbounds pass with two seconds to go sailed through the net on the top of the gym, going out of bounds. The Balers then stole the ball on the Mariner throw-in for the last valiant effort at sending the game into overtime.
“They played well, and I have a lot of respect for them,” Smith said. “They have a lot of good players. We knew it was going to be a 32-minute battle.”
Aptos got an early lead in the game with a 15-6 first quarter before the Balers made their own run in the second quarter.
“We were playing good defense and doing good on the boards,” Smith said. “We were getting good shots on transition. In the second quarter, they stepped up their intensity and started hitting their shots.”
The Balers scored seven consecutive points in the first two minutes of the second quarter to force Aptos to call timeout. Eric Davis hit a little fadeaway shot, and then Zanella hit a bucket to give the Balers their first lead since the opening basket of the game.
San Benito held just a 25-22 lead at the half after Bryan Van Meter hit a last-second three-pointer.
“You can’t play one quarter of basketball and be successful,” Kaplansky said. “They did the little things to win the game. It is tough to win when the other team is working harder.”
San Benito 6 19 13 12 –– 50
Aptos 15 7 13 18 –– 53
San Benito: Sharp 18, Zanella 8, Butler 7, Bautista 6, Moisa 5, Davis 4, Baladad 2.
Aptos: Ortega 5, Worden 14, B. Van Meter 13, Capurro 6, Carroll 9, J. Van Meter 2, Bogaard 4.
Three-point goals –– SB-Sharp, Moisa, Bautista (2), A-Ortega, B. Van Meter (2), Carroll/
