Cooper Sepulveda had a double-double, Eric Elayda drained four
3-pointers, and the San Benito Haybalers defeated Carmel 53-33 on
Monday night to open the Condor Christmas Classic at North Monterey
County High in Castroville.
CASTROVILLE
Cooper Sepulveda had a double-double, Eric Elayda drained four 3-pointers, and the San Benito Haybalers defeated Carmel 53-33 on Monday night to open the Condor Christmas Classic at North Monterey County High in Castroville.
Sepulveda’s double-double included a team-high 14 points — he nailed a 3-pointer as well — and a season-high 13 rebounds to lead the Balers, who improve to 6-3 overall and have now won three straight games.
Elayda’s four treys would equal all of his scoring, although he pocketed three of them in the second quarter and helped San Benito take an 8-8 game after one quarter of play and turn it into a 26-17 lead at halftime.
“It was a slow start, a little tentative, but then Eric Elayda got going,” San Benito head coach Tracy Carpenter said. “It didn’t break it open, but it got us ahead and it gave us some breathing room.”
The Balers’ strong team defense made sure the halftime lead would hold. Carmel managed to score 12 points in the third quarter — its only double-digit point total in any period. But any momentum was lost in the final stanza when San Benito outscored the Padres by a 15-4 margin.
“We played pretty good defense in the second half,” Carpenter said. “I was pretty pleased with the defense.
“To hold them to 33, I was pleased.”
Carmel was coming off one of its better games of the season when it nearly upset Monterey last Tuesday. The Toreadors managed to survive, 62-57.
“I was really concerned (with Carmel) because Monterey is really good,” Carpenter said.
While Sepulveda led all scorers in the game — “He’s a good, versatile player,” Carpenter said — four other players from San Benito chimed in with six points apiece, including Jordan Belton, Tyler Rickard, Evan Olbring and Isidro Corral.
San Benito will return to the Condor Christmas Classic on Tuesday when it will play host North Monterey County, which defeated Soledad on Monday.
Tip-off is 8 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SANB 8 18 12 15 53
CRML 8 9 12 4 33
San Benito (53): J. Belton 2 0 2-7 6, K. Vallejo 0 0 1-2 1, T. Rickard 2 0 2-2 6, C. Sepulveda 5 1 1-3 14, E. Elayda 0 4 0-0 12, E. Olbring 3 0 0-0 6, I Corral 2 0 2-3 6, B. Mendoza 1 0 0-0 2.
