Outscoring San Benito 6-2 in the final stanza, the Oak Grove
Eagles outlasted the Balers in overtime by a 55-51 margin on
Wednesday night in the opening round of the Fukushima Invitational
at Independence High in San Jose.
SAN JOSE
Outscoring San Benito 6-2 in the final stanza, the Oak Grove Eagles outlasted the Balers in overtime by a 55-51 margin on Wednesday night in the opening round of the Fukushima Invitational at Independence High in San Jose.
The Eagles, who improve to 3-0 on the year, scored all six of their points in the overtime period from the free-throw line, going 6 of 8 from the stripe in extra time. San Benito was unable to match the output, scoring just a single basket.
“They’re quick. They penetrated and we ended up fouling on the dribble-drives,” San Benito head coach Tracy Carpenter said.
He later added, “It was a tough game against a good opponent. We played well, but we didn’t get the win.”
The Balers did jump out to a 6-0 edge to open the game, but couldn’t hold the lead. Oak Grove took a 27-18 lead at halftime, but the Balers battled back in the second half, eventually leading 46-45 with three minutes to go in regulation.
Oak Grove scored the next four points, however, but San Benito answered when Cooper Sepulveda capitalized on a three-point play to knot the game at 49-all with 1:20 left.
Both teams had one possession in the waning moments, but neither was able to score the go-ahead basket. San Benito had one last chance in the closing seconds, and Carpenter said the Balers got three shots off in the paint, but none of them dropped.
“It didn’t happen,” he said.
Ending in a 49-all tie, the game went to overtime, where Oak Grove took advantage from the free-throw line.
“It was a good effort. We played a good team,” Carpenter said.
Sepulveda deposited a team-high 20 points for the Balers, who fall to 1-4 on the season. Meanwhile, Jordan Belton, who has been out this season with a broken wrist, returned to the court for the first time and scored 16 points behind a 7 of 10 performance from the charity stripe.
Senior Donald Rodriguez led Oak Grove with a game-high 23 points, while teammate Nate Vieira added 16 points.
The Balers will return to the Fukushima Invitational on Thursday, when they will take on Mission High of San Francisco. Tip-off is 3:30 p.m.
Mission (0-5) lost 71-65 on Wednesday to Bellarmine, which defeated the Balers 52-48 last Friday at the Cupertino Shootout.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 OT F
SB 6 12 16 15 2 51
OG 8 19 16 8 6 55
San Benito (51): J. Belton 3 1 7-10 16, C. Sepulveda 3 3 5-6 20, H. Mishkin 1 0 0-0 2, T. Rickard 2 0 0-0 4, R. Di Salvo 1 0 0-0 2, J. Tonascia 2 0 1-3 5, M. Breen 1 0 0-0 2.
