Forcing 27 turnovers, including 13 in the second quarter alone,
the Balers locked down on North High at Hollister’s Mattson Gym and
cruised past the Vikings en route to an easy 69-38 victory in
Tri-County Athletic League action.
Led by 17 points from Eric Elayda and 13 from Tyler Rickard, San
Benito outscored North Salinas 52-15 in the second and third
quarters, including a 21-2 spurt through the second period.
HOLLISTER
When discussing a victory — or a loss — San Benito head coach Tracy Carpenter often notes the defense. It’s what the Balers are built around, and the first-year coach wouldn’t want it any other way.
On Wednesday night against visiting North Salinas, the defensive-minded coach stayed true, for the most part.
“It was our defense, our press,” Carpenter said. “But in this case, our defense turned into offense.”
Forcing 27 turnovers, including 13 in the second quarter alone, the Balers locked down on North High at Hollister’s Mattson Gym and cruised past the Vikings en route to an easy 69-38 victory in Tri-County Athletic League action.
Led by 17 points from Eric Elayda and 13 from Tyler Rickard, San Benito outscored North Salinas 52-15 in the second and third quarters, including a 21-2 spurt through the second period.
“Overall I was pleased,” Carpenter said. “I think we gained some confidence from this.
“We haven’t put as many teams away. We’ve had some close wins and some comfortable wins, but not too many blowouts.”
Although the Balers (2-0 TCAL, 10-4) came out “a little eager” at the start, leading to a 13-12 North Salinas lead after one quarter, momentum changed almost immediately at the start of the second when Elayda nailed a 3-pointer from the corner and Rickard finished a fastbreak with an easy lay-in.
San Benito scored 11 straight points to open the second quarter before Viking Nick Nunez deposited North Salinas’ first points to end the drought — some four and a half minutes into the period. The Balers finished the quarter on a 10-0 run, however, including back-to-back treys from Jeremy Canchola and Elayda to close out the half.
Elayda finished with five 3-pointers — equaling 15 of his 17 points — where as San Benito shot 8 of 17 from behind the arc, or 47 percent.
“When he’s shooting well, we have a chance against most teams,” Carpenter said. Elayda had three 3-pointers in the third quarter as well, including a pair to open the period.
San Benito, which pressed early and caused havoc on North High’s in-bounds plays, led by as many as 36 points in the game.
Evan Olbring and Cooper Sepulveda each added eight points, while Sepulveda added two steals, five rebounds (three offensive) and four assists.
Kyle Vallejo and Devin Wingo had four points apiece, while Jordan Belton had four points and four steals.
North Salinas falls to 0-2 in the TCAL, 3-11 overall.
The comfortable win sets up Friday’s showdown in Gilroy (3-0 TCAL, 12-3) against the Mustangs, who defeated Everett Alvarez 68-51 on Wednesday night. The game will mark the return for Carpenter, who coached for 13 seasons at GHS and led the varsity program from 1982-92, compiling a 215-99 (.684) record.
Current Gilroy head coach Jeremy Dirks (GHS ’93) played under Carpenter.
“It will be a special game to me because I coached there,” said Carpenter, adding that several former players are expected to be in attendance, including a former manager from Orange County and others flying in from both San Diego and Indianapolis.
“I think this game clearly helps our confidence going into Friday,” Carpenter said.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
NS 13 2 13 10 38
SB 12 21 31 5 69
North Salinas (38): L. Aiken 1-5 0-0 2, A. Juarez 0-1 3-4 3, J. Doung 3-4 3-5 10, E. Ramos 1-4 0-0 2, M. Minerd 3-7 0-0 6, L. Moran 1-1 0-0 2, A. Nunez 2-5 0-0 4, V. Moran 0-5 2-2 2, M. Garcia 0-1 1-2 1, N. Nunez 2-5 1-2 6.
Three-point goals: J. Doung 1, N. Nunez 1.
San Benito (69): J. Hunter 1-4 0-0 2, J. Belton 2-6 0-0 4, J. Canchola 1-3 0-0 3, I. Corral 0-3 1-2 1, E. Elayda 6-13 0-0 17, D. Gutierrez 1-2 0-0 3, J. King 1-2 0-0 2, E. Olbring 3-7 2-2 8, T. Rickard 6-10 1-2 13, C. Sepulveda 3-4 1-1 8, K. Vallejo 2-3 0-0 4, D. Wingo 2-3 0-0 4.
Three-point goals: J. Canchola 1, E. Elayda 5, D. Gutierrez 1, C. Sepulveda 1.
