A little more than a year into the second tenure under David Kaplansky, it has become easy to expect at least one thing every time the boys basketball team takes to the court: They will play strong defense.
In the first game of the 2012-2013 season, the Balers continued that trend from last year, as the defense helped lead the way to a 45-33 win over Pacific Grove in Hollister.
Without last year’s leading scorer Jordan Belton, who left after graduating, the Balers will need that strong defense as they try to figure out the offense.
“We are going to have to find some guys that can collectively score the ball,” Kaplansky said. “That’s something we are going to look at. It’s one of those years that you don’t have an individual guy that is going to score. This is the type of team that we need people to chip in and be productive as far as offensively.”
To find scoring San Benito will rely on a group of four seniors – Michael Breen, Robert Henderson, Brian Becerra and Jacob Tonascia – and junior Hyram Miskin. That starting five showed they were more than capable Tuesday against Pacific Grove. Led by 12 points from Tonascia, the five combined for 33 of the Balers’ 45 points.
“For the most part we are going to need our seniors to guide us and fill some of the spots that were open from last year,” Kaplansky said, “so we can get some more balance in scoring.”
And those seniors expect to do just that.
“The defense is right where we want it to be,” said Breen after Tuesday’s win. “We pressured them all night. They were struggling all night but so were we. We know we still have to find that offense. We know who we are and what we have to be if we want to be successful this season.”
That includes driving to the basket and creating open looks, he said.
“We can shoot ourselves out of a lot of games,” Breen said. “We do have a lot of good shooters but that comes with a lot of misses so we are still trying to work on that.”
On Tuesday the Balers, though, struggled at times from the floor on the offensive end, but their strong defense forced the Breakers into 18 turnovers and only 14 first-half points.
On the offensive end, the Baler relied on quick passing to create open shots, but the Balers struggled to make them, shooting only 30 percent from the floor.
The Balers recieved a strong game – both defensively and offensively – from its bench.
Junior R.J. Collins, who played sparingly on last year’s varsity squad, scored 10 points off the bench for San Benito. And Robbie Skinner added three points and strong defense in relief.
“That’s great,” Tonascia said. “We have two great defenders off the bench with R.J. and Robbie Skinner … the guys are really ready to play. When you take guys off the bench they don’t have a minute to warm up, they have to get into the game’s rhythm as fast as they can.”
After a shorter bench a year ago, the greater depth will only help the Balers, Kaplansky said.
“I think that will help us down the stretch,” he said. “Last year, we didn’t have a lot of gas. We just have to find each other this year.”
That depth allowed the Balers to keep fresh legs against the Breakers. Pacific Grove never could find shots because of the Balers swarming defense. Pacific Grove, though, made one run late in the third quarter. After the Balers took a 30-16 lead midway through the third, San Benito went into a four-minute slump, allowing the Breakers to pull within six at 32-26.
Thanks to 3-point baskets by Tonascia and Collins, the Balers once again pulled away in the fourth quarter. In the final minutes, the Breakers could only make two shots from the field, scoring only seven points.
Overall, the Balers held Pacific Grove to single digit points in the first, second and fourth quarters to pull away with the victory.
“For the most part it’s really good,” Miskin said. “It gives everyone fresh legs and stuff. For the other team it makes it hard. When everyone subs in and subs out it’s hard to figure out the matchups.”
The Balers played in the Cupertino Shootout on Thursday against Bellarmine. The tournament will continue throughout the weekend. Look online for updates.
