The San Benito Haybalers defeated the visiting Alisal Trojans
57-56 in overtime Friday night at Hollister’s Mattson Gym, snapping
a two-game losing streak in Tri-County Athletic League play and
picking up arguably their biggest victory of the season in the
process.
HOLLISTER
Youthful and inexperienced were the unfortunate tags tied to the San Benito Haybalers at the beginning of the season, and an inability to close out tight games was an unfortunate consequence. Of the team’s six losses this season, four have been decided by six points or less.
“But we’ve grown the last two games,” San Benito junior Cooper Sepulveda said on Friday. “And it showed tonight.”
Playing its second straight overtime game in three days — the team’s 48-44 extra-period loss to Palma still fresh on its mind — San Benito amended its previous OT mistakes when it shot 15 of 19 from the free-throw line against visiting Alisal on Friday night and staved off the Trojans late with one last-ditch defensive effort en route to a crazy 57-56 victory at Hollister’s Mattson Gym.
After sophomore Jordan Belton made 1 of 2 free throws in overtime and supplied San Benito a 57-56 edge with 9.9 seconds remaining, Alisal (2-3 TCAL, 10-7) went the length of the floor in no time and got the ball to Gus Angulo at the shoulder, who was clutch for the Trojans all night and finished with 15 points.
However, the Alisal senior dribbled the basketball off his back heel while driving to the hoop for the game-winner, and Belton corralled the loose ball for the wild win.
“It was a huge win,” said Sepulveda, who dropped a team-high and varsity-high 17 points against Alisal, nine of which were deposited from behind the arc. “It’s the [best] team we’ve beaten. We had the previous two games (against Gilroy and Palma) pretty much locked up, but we couldn’t finish. Today we finished.”
Sepulveda’s stat line included nine rebounds and three assists, while the 17 points is the most scored for the junior forward since he was called up to the varsity level midway through last season.
Teammate Tyler Rickard, meanwhile, chimed in with a somewhat quiet 10 points for San Benito, which improves to 3-2 in the Tri-County Athletic League and 11-6 overall.
The junior guard was 8 of 8 from the free-throw line on Friday.
“We were just trying to not let the pressure get to us,” said Rickard, who suffered a knee injury against Palma last Wednesday and sported a brace during Friday’s contest. “But that game was intense.”
Friday’s charity-stripe performance proved to be the difference for the Balers and acted in stark contrast to Wednesday’s game versus Palma, a game in which San Benito missed its last five free throws — from the tail end of the fourth quarter and through the four-minute overtime period.
“We’re getting better,” San Benito head coach Tracy Carpenter said. “Tonight, we needed the free throws and we got them.”
Alisal fared just as well from the line, however. The Trojans were 19 of 25 from the stripe.
After Rickard made 2 of 2 from the line with six seconds remaining in regulation to give San Benito a 52-50 lead, the Trojans responded by going the length of the floor once again and eventually dishing off to Angulo on the baseline, who drove to the hoop and drew the shooting foul with no time remaining.
In front of a standing, ruckus crowd at Mattson Gym, though, Angulo sunk both free throws to send the game to overtime.
“I think we were tired and beat up from the Palma game, but we pushed through it,” Sepulveda said.
And San Benito grabbed a four-point lead to open OT when Kyle Vallejo drained a pair of free throws and Evan Olbring delivered a driving lay-up in transition. But anchored by Angulo and Jonathan Sosa, who led all scorers with 22 points Friday, the Trojans marched back into the contest, aided by two Baler turnovers down the stretch.
“I don’t think we played that well,” Rickard said, noting the team’s 13 turnovers, seven of which came during the fourth quarter and overtime period. “I think we could have played better. But we found a way to win.”
After Angulo made a pair of freebies in the extra session to tie the game at 56-all with 55.7 seconds left, San Benito left the door open when it committed a turnover on its ensuing possession. But Alisal was unable to capitalize — they had two shots from the paint, but couldn’t convert either — and the Balers sprinted down the court in transition as a result, leading to Belton’s shooting foul with 9.9 seconds remaining.
“We didn’t have quite the edge as we did Wednesday,” Carpenter said. “We totally spent ourselves against Palma.”
The fatigue from Wednesday may have played a role in San Benito’s slow start on Friday as well. Behind Alisal’s Alex Guzman, who had six of his eight points in the first quarter, the Trojans grabbed a 10-2 lead to open the game. But Sepulveda and Vallejo, who finished with eight points and six rebounds, sparked an 11-5 run to close out the quarter.
Trailing 25-22 at halftime, the Balers outscored Alisal 18-14 in the third quarter when Olbring took over. The senior center had seven of his nine points in the third stanza, and delivered a jump-pass to Sepulveda underneath the hoop for an and-one basket that tied the game at 37-all.
“Our game plan was to shut down (Jonathan) Sosa and make everyone else beat us,” Sepulveda said of Alisal’s go-to post player and the leading scorer in the TCAL at 21.5 points per game. “Sosa got to us, but we continued to defend him as best we could.”
The game plan initially worked. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Trojan was scoreless in the first quarter and held to just four points at halftime. But that was short-lived.
Sosa not only finished with a game-high 22 points, but he scored 12 of Alisal’s 14 points in the third quarter.
“Sosa’s a stud,” Carpenter said. “We just tried to minimize him as best we could.”
It was Angulo who took over in the fourth quarter, though. After the Balers garnered a four-point lead with 54 seconds remaining in regulation, Angulo delivered six straight points to eventually send the game to overtime.
“But it was a huge win,” Carpenter said. “This is the best team we’ve beaten this year.”
Olbring and Devin Wingo each finished with five rebounds, while San Benito’s bench outscored Alisal’s by a 13-0 margin.
The Balers will return to TCAL play on Wednesday when they will visit Salinas (1-4 TCAL, 10-6) at 7 p.m.
Notes:
San Benito shot 19 of 54 from the field, while Alisal was 18 of 41 … The Trojans committed 12 turnovers … Alisal had won two straight games since falling to Palma in overtime, 54-51.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 OT F
ALIS 15 10 14 13 4 56
SANB 13 9 18 12 5 57
Alisal (56): G. Angulo 3-8 8-12 15, R. Camacho 3-6 3-4 9, M. Wamangu 1-4 0-0 2, A. Guzman 2-6 4-4 8, J. Sosa 9-14 4-5 22.
Three-point goals: G. Angulo 1.
San Benito (57): J. Belton 1-4 2-4 4, E. Elayda 3-10 0-0 7, E. Olbring 4-5 1-2 9, T. Rickard 1-10 8-8 10, C. Sepulveda 6-12 2-3 17, K. Vallejo 3-10 2-2 8, D. Wingo 1-2 0-0 2.
Three-point goals: E. Elayda 1, C. Sepulveda 3.
