San Benito stays hot, pounds Alvarez 62-36
Hollister – San Benito quickly brushed off any ideas of a potential let down from its emotional overtime upset of Gilroy two nights earlier by putting together four quarters of outstanding basketball in a 62-36 thrashing of visiting Alvarez on Friday.
“That game was just amazing. I’ll always remember that,” San Benito senior forward Todd Janisch said of Wednesday’s 70-62 upset of the rival Mustangs. “This game we were worried about. But it was a good follow up to a good win.”
The Haybalers (7-11, 3-1 Tri-County Athletic League) outscored the Eagles (8-8, 1-3 TCAL) in each of the four quarters. They completely shut down Harvey Todd, the area’s top scorer, and held Alvarez to less than half of its season scoring average of 72.8 points.
“We just stunk. We didn’t come to play. We were lackadaisical,” said Alvarez coach Mark Haddan, whose team was coming off a wild 93-81 loss to Palma on Wednesday. “I’m real disappointed, especially when we had Palma on the ropes the other day at our place.”
San Benito played with intensity throughout and its defense frustrated the high-paced Eagles offense.
Todd, the area’s leading scorer averaging more than 27 points per game, was denied the ability to drive and was forced to fire away from the outside. He finished the game with a season-low of seven points – the first time all season he’s been held under double-figures – and was scoreless in the second half.
“We just played defense,” San Benito coach John Becerra explained. “We just played our basic, good defense.”
After a slow start to the first quarter, where the Eagles took a 4-0 lead, the ‘Balers responded with a 10-0 run and finished the quarter leading 13-8.
San Benito began pulling away early in the second period. Janisch scored seven of his game-high 14 points in the quarter as the ‘Balers pushed the lead to 29-17 at halftime.
Any hope Alvarez had at a comeback was eliminated in the third quarter. San Benito outscored the Eagles 14-4 to boost its lead to 22 points and both teams emptied their benches for the final period.
For Becerra, who admitted to being concerned about a let down, it was a nice (and rare) opportunity to relax on the bench and enjoy the game.
“We’ve got to realize that if we’re supposed to beat a team by a certain amount we’ve got to do it,” Becerra said. “We need to play to our level every single time on the court.”
Kevin Burley added 10 points to the balanced attack and Carlos Ramos came off the bench to score 10 points, all in the second half. Dominic Zanella had a strong interior game with six points and six rebounds.
Alvarez, which entered the game with three players averaging at least 13 points per game, failed to have a scorer reach double-figures. Luis Morales paced the team with eight.
Alvarez 8 9 4 15 – 36
San Benito 13 16 14 19 – 62
Alvarez – Rubio 2 0-0 5, Smith 2 0-1 4, Rodzach 0 0-2 0, Fisher 0 0-1 0, Rhyans 2 0-0 4, Adenuga 0 4-4 4, Morales 4 0-0 8, Baker 1 0-0 2, Todd 2 3-4 7, Lopez 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 7-11 36.
San Benito – Bueno 2 2-3 8, Conchola 1 0-0 3, Burley 4 2-4 10, Janisch 6 0-1 14, Medeiros 4 1-2 5, Ramos 5 0-0 10, Silva 1 2-2 4, Zanella 3 0-1 6, Wilson 1 0-3 2. Totals – 27 7-16 62.
3-point goals – Alv-Rubio, SB-Bueno 2, Janisch 2, Conchola.
