Despite 25 points from guard Eric Elayda, the San Benito High
boys basketball team lost its season opener to River Valley High of
Yuba City 64-58 Thursday night at the 16th annual Coach Wilson
Memorial Tournament in Pebble Beach.
PEBBLE BEACH
Despite 25 points from guard Eric Elayda, the San Benito High boys basketball team lost its season opener to River Valley High of Yuba City 64-58 Thursday night at the 16th annual Coach Wilson Memorial Tournament in Pebble Beach.
It was the first game under new head coach Tracy Carpenter.
“First games are tough,” Carpenter said. “It’s a new team, new coaches. It might take a little while to gel, but we’re working hard.
“I expect to do better.”
The Balers (0-1) held a 16-14 lead after one quarter and a 29-27 lead at halftime on Thursday, but River Valley pulled away in the third quarter when it outscored San Benito by a 19-12 margin.
“They pressed the whole game,” Carpenter said. “The press got to us a little bit.”
The Yuba City school also had a height advantage over San Benito, which resulted in an 11 of 20 performance from the free throw line. The Balers, meanwhile, were 5 of 11 from the charity stripe.
Nevertheless, San Benito trailed by just four points with approximately 30 seconds remaining in regulation, but couldn’t pull out the victory in the end.
River Valley’s Gerkran Finley had 19 points.
“They came in waves,” Carpenter said. “They had a lot of depth.”
San Benito will return to the Coach Wilson Memorial Tournament on Friday. The Balers will play Liberty High of Brentwood at Robert Louis Stevenson in Pebble Beach.
Tip-off is 3:30 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SB 16 13 12 17 58
RV 14 13 19 18 64
San Benito (58) — J. Belton 3 0 1 7, K. Vallejo 3 0 0 6, C. Sepulveda 2 0 1 7, E. Elayda 3 6 1 25, D. Wingo 2 0 2 6, T. Rickard 2 0 1 3, E. Olbring 2 0 0 4.
