Despite trailing by 10 points with 1:03 remaining in regulation,
the Balers rifled off eight straight points in the final minute and
had a chance for the win, but Cooper Sepulveda’s 3-point attempt
from roughly 30 feet fell short and Salinas staved off San Benito
by a 61-59 margin on Friday in the Tri-County Athletic League
finale for both teams.
HOLLISTER
In a game where the San Benito Haybalers were constantly chasing, constantly trailing, the Salinas Cowboys continued to get the last word.
After the Balers closed out the first quarter on a 7-0 run to grab a 13-12 lead, Salinas’ Josh Murray drained a runner in the lane at the buzzer to give the Cowboys a 14-13 edge. Later, when San Benito built a 25-23 lead in the second quarter off a Cooper Sepulveda 3-pointer, Murray dropped five straight points and teammate Kevin Tom nailed a trey at the buzzer to give the Cowboys a 31-25 lead at the break.
And those two instances in the first half may have prevented the Balers from getting the last word in during the final period.
Despite trailing by 10 points with 1:03 remaining in regulation, the Balers rifled off eight straight points in the final minute and had a chance for the win, but Sepulveda’s 3-point attempt from roughly 30 feet fell short and Salinas staved off San Benito by a 61-59 margin on Friday in the Tri-County Athletic League finale for both teams.
“We had our chances,” said San Benito head coach Tracy Carpenter, who noted the buzzer-beaters in the first half by Salinas, as well as San Benito’s dismal 8 of 18 performance from the free-throw line.
“We’re a young team. We made some mistakes,” Carpenter added. “But we battled and didn’t give up. I think it keeps us hungry.”
San Benito, which finishes in fifth place in the TCAL at 5-7, 13-11 overall, will now await to see where it sits in next week’s Central Coast Section Division I playoffs. The seedings will be announced on Sunday, and the Balers are expecting to be on the road when the postseason kicks off.
San Benito likely would have had a home game had it escaped Hollister’s Mattson Gym with a victory over Salinas on Friday night. And after a wild final minute of play, the Balers nearly did just that.
After Salinas’ Kyle Vasher sunk a floater from the baseline with 1:40 remaining in the fourth quarter — Vasher led all scorers with 20 points in the game — the Cowboys led 61-51 and appeared to be well in control of the contest.
But San Benito began to cut into the deficit when Sepulveda sunk 1 of 2 from the line at the 1:03 mark, while teammate Jeremy Canchola hit a 3-pointer with 42 ticks left after the Cowboys turned the ball over.
Following a timeout, Salinas turned the ball over again at midcourt when Sepulveda ripped the ball away from Michael Amiya, then passed to Tyler Rickard on a fast break for an easy lay-in with 14 seconds left. Rickard then deflected the in-bounds pass right to teammate Evan Olbring, who deposited a quick layup to pull within two points.
When Salinas in-bounded the ball on the ensuing possession, the Balers quickly fouled Amiya and sent the Salinas guard to the line for a 1-and-1 situation with 3.8 seconds left.
But Amiya missed the front-end of the 1-and-1 and Olbring plucked the rebound, finding Sepulveda near midcourt. The San Benito junior, who had hit three 3-pointers already in the game, dribbled through several defenders before hoisting an attempt from roughly 30 feet that fell just short of the basket.
Sepulveda, who finished with a team-high 15 points, was blanketed by Salinas defenders on the attempt and appeared to have been fouled on the play, although no call was made.
“I think it was a foul. He caught my arm,” Sepulveda said of the last-second shot. “I think it should have been called. But I was the one shooting, so I’m kind of biased.”
With the win, Salinas finishes in fourth place in the TCAL at 6-6, 15-8 overall, and displayed plenty of height when compared to San Benito — the team’s front line includes the 6-foot-5 Chandler Hubbard, the 6-foot-5 Vasher, and the 6-foot-7 Frank Rogers.
“But I think we did a good job on their big guys. We gave up a lot of size there,” Carpenter said. “But in the end, it was their perimeter guys who beat us.”
Salinas had seven 3-pointers in the game — four of which came from Vasher.
“He made it look easy,” Carpenter added.
Vasher, who sat out with an injury during the Jan. 27 matchup against San Benito — a far more comfortable 62-47 victory for the Cowboys — had two of his 3-pointers in the third quarter, and Salinas entered the fourth with a 49-42 lead.
The lead blossomed to 10 points on several different occasions in the game, including three different times in the final period.
“We pushed the ball more on offense and got on some fast breaks, and played a little bit better defense on the inside,” Sepulveda said. “If we would have beat them, we could have got a home game. But we played close with a good team, and I think that we’re ready for the playoffs.”
More to come
Notes:
San Benito shot 40 percent (23 of 58) from the field and 44 percent (8 of 18) from the line … Salinas was 48 percent (25 of 52) from the field and 57 percent (4 of 7) from the line … San Benito committed 10 turnovers, while Salinas had 20.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SALN 14 17 18 12 61
SANB 13 12 17 17 59
Salinas (61): J. Murray 3-4 0-0 7, K. Tom 2-2 0-0 5, M. Ramiza 1-7 1-2 3, M. Amiya 4-5 2-3 11, F. Rogers 3-10 1-2 7, K. Vasher 8-16 0-0 20, D. Parker 1-1 0-0 2, C. Hubbard 3-6 0-0 6.
Three-point goals: J. Murray 1, K. Tom 1, M. Amiya 1, K. Vasher 4.
San Benito (59): J. Belton 3-8 0-2 7, J. Canchola 2-6 0-0 5, I. Corral 1-2 0-0 2, K. Vallejo 4-8 4-6 12, D. Wingo 0-1 1-5 1, E. Olbring 4-5 1-1 9, T. Rickard 4-9 0-0 8, C. Sepulveda 5-18 2-4 15.
Three-point goals: J. Belton 1, J. Canchola 1, C. Sepulveda 3.
