For the last two seasons, the Condor Christmas Classic has
provided the San Benito boys basketball team with a bit of a
measuring stick performance, a last-minute, non-conference wake-up
call, and acted almost as a turning-point tournament
— pretty much all wrapped up into one. But while last year’s
tournament provided the Balers with a sour taste to an otherwise
strong three-game performance — San Benito lost to Menlo-Atherton
46-45 in the championship on a last-second basket — Wednesday’s
tournament final against league foe Sa
linas, albeit a 60-55 overtime loss, may have instilled a
positive boost to a team that suffered through a six-game losing
streak earlier this year.
CASTROVILLE
For the last two seasons, the Condor Christmas Classic has provided the San Benito boys basketball team with a bit of a measuring stick performance, a last-minute, non-conference wake-up call, and acted almost as a turning-point tournament — pretty much all wrapped up into one.
But while last year’s tournament provided the Balers with a sour taste to an otherwise strong three-game performance — San Benito lost to Menlo-Atherton 46-45 in the championship on a last-second basket — Wednesday’s tournament final against league foe Salinas, albeit a 60-55 overtime loss, may have instilled a positive boost to a team that suffered through a six-game losing streak earlier this year.
San Benito trailed 7-0 from the start and 27-17 just before the end of the first half against a Salinas team that many have pinned to win the Tri-County Athletic League this season. But with an impressive team defense that forced 16 Cowboys turnovers, coupled with guard Tyler Rickard exploding for 14 second-half points, San Benito delivered an impressive second half against Salinas and found itself knotted at 51-all at the end of regulation.
While the shots stopped falling in the extra period, San Benito had at least delivered a statement against a team that is ranked some 56 spots higher in the latest rankings by MaxPreps. After all, it took overtime to decide the winner between No. 64 and No. 8 in the Central Coast Section.
“We’re not playing at our best and we’re doing just about everything but finding a way to win. But we’re definitely improving. I don’t think at the beginning of the season that we would have taken these guys to overtime,” said San Benito forward Cooper Sepulveda, who deposited a game-high 17 points against Salinas and was later named to the all-tournament team.
“We carried over the experiences from some of the close losses (earlier this year) to this game,” he added.
Despite what a six-game losing streak may suggest, San Benito’s play hasn’t necessarily been reflective of its 4-7 mark. Of the team’s seven losses this season, five were within five points or less, two were in overtime, and two were lost on the final shot.
A 52-51 loss to Los Altos on Dec. 2 ended with the game-winning basket coming with 14 seconds left, while a 64-62 defeat to Watsonville on Dec. 17 ended with the Wildcatz sinking the game-winner with no time remaining.
Wednesday’s overtime loss to Salinas (11-1) could have been dagger as far as frustration goes, but San Benito has instead taken a different approach.
“We’re learning that we can win,” said junior Jordan Belton, who had seven points Wednesday and was also named to the all-tournament team. “We went on that losing streak, but now we’re starting to play together and we’re finding our groove.”
Part of the problem earlier this season was that San Benito wasn’t always playing at full strength. Academics held some players out, while Belton himself was limited from an off-season wrist injury. But the Balers are more or less at full strength now, just in time for TCAL play.
San Benito will open the league season on Jan. 5 at North Salinas.
“We could pad our schedule and be nearly undefeated, but we would not be a better team,” said head coach Tracy Carpenter, whose losses have come against teams with a combined 46-28 record this season. “You can’t find out your weaknesses unless you play the top level of competition.
“We’re finding out and we’re getting better.”
Of course, San Benito’s biggest weakness is something that Carpenter can’t exactly teach: height. The Balers do have legitimate post players in Sepulveda, Ryan Di Salvo and Jacob Tonascia, but not much in terms of depth on the front line. They’re a guard-heavy team behind Rickard, Belton and Eric Elayda, but have developed a team defense that has managed to limit or even shut down the opposition’s height.
On Wednesday, Sepulveda and the Balers quieted the efforts of Salinas’ 6-foot-8 center Frank Rogers, contesting each pass into the paint, double- and triple-teaming him on the post, and limiting his shots throughout the game.
Although Rogers, arguably the best player in the TCAL this season, finished with nine points on 4 of 9 shooting, San Benito held him to zero points at halftime with just two shots total.
“We have to really help defensively and do a good job neutralizing quick perimeter players,” Carpenter said. “We also have to gang rebound.
“And we obviously defended and offensive rebounded very well (against Salinas).”
Limiting second-chance opportunities while also turning the Cowboys into a perimeter-shooting team was key on Wednesday, although the difference in the game may have been Salinas’ ability to connect on seven 3-pointers.
However, the Balers made it a dogfight by frequently getting to the foul line in the second half. Although the Cowboys had seven blocked shots through the first eight minutes of regulation on Wednesday, San Benito responded later in the game by instead drawing the foul in the paint, and subsequently forcing the foul-trouble issue with the Cowboys.
Rogers, for instance, fouled out in the overtime period.
“Every team we play has bigger guys than us, so we’re learning to play with our lower half,” said Sepulveda, who is listed at 6-foot-4 and was given the opportunity to defend Rogers on Wednesday. “Box them out, out-hustle them and try to neutralize their height.”
Although an overtime loss, Carpenter feels Wednesday’s game was the best the Balers have played this season, a confidence booster and most definitely a step in the right direction for a team that very much needed one.
“We’ve improved a lot since the start of the season,” said Carpenter, later adding, “But we basically have to get better everyday at practice.”
For everything that was solid against Salinas on Wednesday, like San Benito’s 16 of 24 performance from the free-throw line and its team defense, especially in the paint, there were still areas to improve upon. For one, the Balers shot 17 of 60 from the field, while their transition defense was sometimes slow getting back down the court, leading to easy Cowboys baskets.
“It’s pretty frustrating because we know we didn’t do a lot of stuff in this game that we should have done,” said Sepulveda, specifically noting the poor shooting performance.
But with Salinas predicted to win the TCAL this year, and with Palma always expected to up near the top, the Balers don’t appear too far off from putting up a fight of their own, despite what records may suggest.
On Wednesday, they proved as much.
“This tournament was good for us,” Belton said. “We know what our potential is. We know what we can do and we can come out on top.
“If you look at our stats, we should have been blown out. But we have the potential to beat them.”
Notes:
San Benito shot 28 percent (17 of 60) from the field, 66 percent (16 of 24) from the line, and committed eight turnovers against the Cowboys … Salinas shot 36 percent (21 of 59) from the field, 61 percent (11 of 18) from the line, and committed 16 tunovers against the Balers … Salinas’ Mitchell Johnson, who scored a team-high 13 points on Wednesday, was named Most Valuable Player of the Condor Christmas Classic, which was held at North Monterey County High School in Castroville … Prior to Tuesday’s league opener at North Salinas, San Benito will play its final non-conference game at home on Friday against Gilroy’s Christopher High. Tip-off is 1 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 OT F
SALN 13 14 14 10 9 60
SANB 9 12 17 13 4 55
Salinas (60): C. Mariscal 3-8 0-0 9, M. Johnson 4-13 5-5 13, M. Amiya 1-4 0-1 2, F. Rogers 4-9 1-3 9, A. Caldwell 3-6 0-0 7, C. Hunsdorfer 2-4 0-2 5, K. Staunton 0-1 0-0 0, D. Gaona 2-5 0-0 5, J. Villaneda 0-1 0-0 0, J. Murray 1-4 3-5 6, A. Bell 1-4 2-2 4.
Three-point goals: C. Mariscal 3, A. Caldwell 1, C. Hunsdorfer 1, D. Gaona 1, J. Murray 1.
San Benito (55): E. Elayda 2-7 0-0 4, C. Sepulveda 3-11 9-13 17, T. Rickard 6-9 0-0 14, D. Gutierrez 1-1 0-0 2, J. Belton 2-15 3-3 7, J. Tonascia 0-4 3-4 3, R. Di Salvo 1-2 0-2 2, H. Miskin 2-7 0-0 5, L. Haro 0-1 0-0 0, R. Henderson 0-3 1-2 1.
Three-point goals: C. Sepulveda 2, T. Rickard 2, H. Miskin 1.
