Despite trailing by one point entering the fourth quarter, the
San Benito boys basketball team could not keep pace with Mission
High late, as the San Francisco school pulled away in the final
minutes en route to a 56-47 victory on Thursday night in the
Fukushima Invitational at Independence High in San Jose.
SAN JOSE
Despite trailing by one point entering the fourth quarter, the San Benito boys basketball team could not keep pace with Mission High late, as the San Francisco school pulled away in the final minutes en route to a 56-47 victory on Thursday night in the Fukushima Invitational at Independence High in San Jose.
“It was closer than the score indicated,” San Benito head coach Tracy Carpenter said.
True. The Balers only trailed by one point with 2:15 remaining in regulation. But with San Benito forced to foul in the final minutes, Mission managed to increase its lead point by point from the free-throw line.
“We ended up fouling a bunch of times and they made their free throws,” Carpenter said.
San Benito, trailing 35-34 entering the fourth quarter, was outscored 21-13 in the final stanza.
“It was a disappointing loss,” Carpenter added. “We played a much quicker team.”
Perhaps even more disappointing was the fact that San Benito’s next scheduled opponent in the Fukushima Invitational dropped out, leaving the Balers without a third game on Friday.
San Benito falls to 1-5 on the season as a result, and isn’t scheduled to play again until next Friday, Dec. 17, at Watsonville. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m.
On Thursday, Tyler Rickard provided a team-high 12 points for the Balers, who have dropped five straight games since their season opener. Jordan Belton added 11 points, while Cooper Sepulveda had eight points in the game.
The team struggled from the foul line, however, shooting just 9 of 19.
Meanwhile, Mission’s Antoine Porter dropped a game-high 16 points behind 6 of 11 shooting from the field. Teammate Travis Price-Moku added 11 points and 11 rebounds in the victory, which improves the Bears to 1-5 on the season.
————
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SANB 11 8 15 13 47
MISS 11 10 14 21 56
San Benito (47): J. Belton 3 1 2-5 11, C. Sepulveda 3 0 2-4 8, H. Mishkin 1 0 0-0 2, T. Rickard 3 1 3-6 12, D. Gutierrez 2 0 0-0 4, R. Di Salvo 0 0 2-4 2, J. Tonascia 3 0 0-0 6.
