A one-point lead at halftime blossomed into a 16-point win for
the San Benito Haybalers on Saturday night against Watsonville.
Behind 11 points from Eric Elayda, the Balers played one their
better defensive games of the season en route to a 48-32 victory
against the Wildcatz in non-conference action.
WATSONVILLE
A one-point lead at halftime blossomed into a 16-point win for the San Benito Haybalers on Saturday night against Watsonville. Behind 11 points from Eric Elayda, the Balers played one their better defensive games of the season en route to a 48-32 victory against the Wildcatz in non-conference action.
“We played good defense, probably the best defensive game of the year,” San Benito head coach Tracy Carpenter said.
Kyle Vallejo and Devon Wingo each scored nine points for San Benito, which narrowly led 16-15 at halftime.
But despite the one-point lead at the break, the Balers outscored the Wildcatz 14-8 and 18-9 in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
“I was pleased to see an improvement,” Carpenter said of the defense. “We were solid all the way around and they struggled to score. That was good to see.”
However, the margin of victory could have been much more, Carpenter said, as San Benito was just 7 of 24 from the free-throw line, or 29 percent.
It was San Benito’s first game in more than a week. The win over Watsonville snapped a two-game losing streak and moved the Balers above .500 in the early season.
San Benito is now 4-3 overall.
The Balers will visit Seaside on Tuesday. Tip-off is 7 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SANB 7 9 14 18 48
WATS 5 10 8 9 32
San Benito (48) — J. Belton 0 0 3-10 3, K. Vallejo 3 0 3-4 9, T. Rickard 1 2 0-0 8, C. Sepulveda 1 0 0-2 4, E. Elayda 4 1 0-0 11, D. Wingo 4 0 1-6 9, M. Silva 1 0 0-0 2, D. Olbring 1 0 0-2 2, I. Corral 1 0 0-0 2.
