After edging Gilroy with a driving lay-up with 14 seconds to go
on Wednesday, Eric Elayda’s wide-open trey on Friday vaulted the
Haybalers past Palma en route to another improbable, heart-pounding
victory
— capping a week that saw San Benito top the Mustangs 70-69, and
the Chieftains 55-51.
HOLLISTER
One might think that Eric Elayda, two days removed from delivering the game-winning lay-up to beat rival Gilroy, might have been a little more at ease while attempting another game-winning shot on Friday night against Palma.
“No, it’s still a tough shot,” he said. “I was still nervous.”
Well, at least the San Benito guard looked as cool as can be on Friday, running around a pair of screens for a quick-as-can-be pull-up 3-pointer from the left corner that hit nothing but nylon, and leapfrogged the Balers from a 51-50 deficit with 7.9 seconds remaining to a 53-51 edge with 4.2 ticks left on the clock.
There was nothing nervous about it.
After edging Gilroy with a driving lay-up with 14 seconds to go on Wednesday, Elayda’s wide-open trey on Friday vaulted the Haybalers past Palma en route to another improbable, heart-pounding victory — capping a week that saw San Benito top the Mustangs 70-69, and the Chieftains 55-51.
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“I knew coach trusted me with the shot. I had to make it for the team,” said Elayda, who had just six points in Friday’s game, but all of which came off of a pair of 3-pointers.
On the final attempt — a modified set play that San Benito hadn’t run all season — Elayda came around two screens by Tyler Rickard and Jacob Tonascia, received the in-bounds pass on the baseline from Cooper Sepulveda, and pulled up in front of a packed house at Hollister’s Mattson Gym.
“We had never run that before, but Eric sold it perfectly,” said San Benito head coach Tracy Carpenter, adding that Elayda had faked a screen before turning away strong toward the corner. “There was no doubt we wanted him to get his hands on the ball. He’s good at this. He did it last game. He did it last year.
“Another improbable comeback.”
With 4.2 seconds left on the clock, though, Palma still had a chance, trailing by two. But the Chieftains would have needed to travel the length of the floor, and the team’s ensuing in-bounds pass was immediately turned over instead, rolling out of bounds without ever having been touched.
The Balers took over at the same spot on Palma’s baseline, and San Benito freshman Hyram Miskin was quickly fouled.
The first-year player knocked down both free throws, however, sealing the San Benito victory.
“He’s a special kid, Carpenter said. “He’s a freshman, but he doesn’t seem to feel the pressure at all.”
Pressure may have been building on the Balers, though.
Said Elayda, “We had to beat Palma.”
Had they not, the team’s second-place standing entering the contest may have been short-lived, while the shine of beating Gilroy (6-3 TCAL, 13-8) Wednesday may have been tarnished.
But with its two biggest wins of the season now firmly under their collective belt, the Balers, at 7-2 in the TCAL, can officially call second place their own for the time being, and can officially rid themselves of the 11-game losing streak to Palma (5-4 TCAL, 13-8), dating back to Feb. 16, 2005.
“We just knew we had to beat them. If we couldn’t beat them, then there was no chance of us getting second place,” said Cooper Sepulveda, who scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter Friday and pulled down nine boards.
The senior forward helped to quickly close a five-point fourth quarter deficit against the Chieftains, who had previously defeated the Balers by a 65-48 margin on Jan. 12.
Sepulveda actually scored seven of San Benito’s first eight points in the final period. But after a pair of free throws by Jordan Belton supplied the Balers with a 43-42 lead with 3:51 remaining — their first lead since the 6:35 mark of the third quarter — the Chieftains immediately regained the lead behind the sharp-shooting of Matt Johnson.
With Palma’s Noah Allen drawing the attention of Baler defenders — he finished with 14 points on 7 of 26 shooting — Johnson was able to set up near the perimeter, and often wide open. He finished with a team-high 15 points on five 3-pointers, with his fifth trey giving the Chieftains a 45-43 lead with 3:30 to go.
“But it seems like every hustle play they got. They definitely deserved to win this game,” Palma head coach Paul Alioto said. “We just couldn’t make a bucket inside and then we couldn’t get the stop we needed.”
The final minutes didn’t appear to be terribly promising for the Balers, though. An 18 of 28 performance from the free-throw line may have kept the game out of reach, while the paint presence of Allen and Jack Powers appeared to supply Palma with just enough offensive production to escape Hollister with a win.
Allen’s clutch pull-up jumper from the shoulder, even, gave the Chieftains a 51-47 lead with 40 seconds to go, and much of the momentum as well. But Belton responded just eight seconds later by nailing a straightaway 3-pointer from just beyond the key on San Benito’s next trip down the floor, pulling the Balers back to within one, and setting up a wild 30-plus seconds of action to close out the game.
“We’ve struggled all year executing down the stretch in tight games, and again it’s come back to haunt us,” Alioto said. “But when you lose by a couple, it’s not one play. It’s block outs in the first half of the game, it’s a missed lay-up, it’s a missed defensive assignment. They made more plays than us.”
Belton, meanwhile, finished with 18 points Friday.
“For us, it’s the second half. If we came out like we did in the last game (against Palma), it would have been the same result,” Belton said.
The Balers have often fallen into a third- and fourth-quarter rut this season. For instance, they led by seven points at halftime during their previous game to the Chieftains only to lose by 17, and even led by 18 against Gilroy Wednesday before emerging with a one-point victory.
On Friday, it was a low-scoring tie game at the break — 23-all. But while the Chieftains garnered a 38-33 lead entering the final period, San Benito’s fourth-quarter comeback, in which it outscored Palma by a 22-13 margin, was a little extraordinary for this season, and previous seasons.
One could argue Elayda’s game-winner was simply par for the course, though.
“I expected it. We’ve done that so many times, since the sixth grade we’ve been on the same team,” Sepulveda said of Elayda’s 3-pointer. “I know, at the end of the game … he’s gonna make it.”
Notes:
Palma shot 34 percent (21 of 61) from the field, 40 percent (4 of 10) from the free-throw line, and committed 11 turnovers … San Benito shot 24 percent (15 of 63) from the field, 64 percent (18 of 28) from the free-throw line, and committed five turnovers … With Salinas undefeated and leading the TCAL at 8-0, San Benito is currently in second place at 7-2, Gilroy is in third at 6-3 and Palma is fourth at 5-4. Everett Alvarez, Alisal and North Salinas round out the bottom three teams … The Balers’ previous win over the Chieftains, on Feb. 16, 2005, was a come-from-behind 57-56 victory, in which San Benito outscored Palma 32-19 in the second half. Baler Kyle Sharp led all scorers with 37 points in the win … San Benito’s victory over Gilroy on Wednesday provided the Balers with the season sweep of the Mustangs, which hadn’t been accomplished since the 2007-08 season … San Benito is off until Wednesday when it will host Alisal at 7 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
PALM 9 14 15 13 51
SANB 7 16 10 22 55
Palma (51):J. Regester 2-3 0-1 4, M. Johnson 5-8 0-0 15, J. Powers 3-12 3-6 9, N. Allen 7-26 0-1 14, J. Paulo 1-2 0-0 2, J. Burlison 0-2 0-0 0, J. Tardieu 2-5 1-1 5, J. Osborne 1-3 0-1 2.
Three-point goals: M. Johnson 5.
San Benito (55): J. Belton 5-14 6-8 18, C. Sepulveda 5-16 7-10 18, E. Elayda 2-10 0-0 6, T. Rickard 1-6 1-2 4, R. Di Salvo 0-2 1-2 1, J. Tonascia 1-5 1-4 3, R. Henderson 0-2 0-0 0, H. Miskin 1-8 2-2 5.
Three-point goals: J. Belton 2, C. Sepulveda 1, E. Elayda 2, T. Rickard 1, H. Miskin 1.
