San Benito keeps host Independence at bay late, will face
Piedmont Hills Saturday
SAN JOSE
San Benito’s Tyler Rickard has a sense of humor.
Although there was nothing funny about his career-high 27 points on Thursday night in the second round of the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs, the sophomore guard has a way of putting his teammates at ease – in a very tongue-in-cheek way, of course.
“For the seniors, this could have been their last game in high school,” Rickard joked afterward. “And I just couldn’t let them go out like that.”
Rickard, the seniors, and the No. 9 Haybalers as a whole will live to see at least one more game after they turned back No. 8 Independence High on the road 63-60 Thursday night in San Jose, trumping the 76ers in the second round of the D-I playoffs for the second straight year.
Last year, the ‘Balers outscored Independence 19-3 in the first quarter en route to a 61-44 victory in Hollister. And although the Sixers returned eight members from that team, while San Benito graduated 11, the ‘Balers still found a way to win in the end.
It’s funny how that works.
“Every year is different with different players,” said Jason Canchola, who had 12 points Thursday. “They were a different team. So we just had to play like we always play and we came out with a win.”
The victory advances San Benito (15-12) to Saturday’s quarterfinal round where they will play top-seeded Piedmont Hills (26-1), which played last on Feb. 20 against Overfelt.
Like Thursday night’s game, the quarterfinals will take place once again at Independence High in San Jose, although this time it won’t necessarily be a home game for San Benito’s opponent.
A raucous Sixers’ student section followed each back-and-forth point throughout Thursday, and seemed to swing the momentum toward Independence after they grabbed a 53-50 lead when Thai-son Tran nailed back-to-back 3’s with 3:33 remaining.
But Rickard responded with one of his four 3-pointers on the ensuing possession to tie the game, and after each team exchanged turnovers, Rickard then drove baseline toward the hoop and capitalized on a three-point play – connecting on the short jumper, drawing the foul and sinking the and-1 free throw.
The ‘Balers led 56-53 as a result with 1:59 left.
“We stepped it up,” Canchola said. “Tyler Rickard dropped a lot of points.”
Independence had no response, however. On the following possession, Canchola intercepted a pass and went the length of the court for an easy layup that gave San Benito a five-point lead with 1:45 remaining.
When asked what the difference was at the end of the game, San Benito head coach John Becerra said it was the key defensive stops.
“I think shifting to the man-defense kind of threw them off a little bit, because we were in the zone (defense) for most of the game,” Becerra said. “I thought when we went to man, it kind of stymied them somewhat. They were used to moving the ball freely, and now they had a guy in their face.”
The ‘Balers, which switched to the man defense in the final four minutes of regulation, forced four turnovers late in the fourth quarter and kept the 76ers at bay with a 7 of 11 performance from the charity stripe in the final stanza.
Independence did battle back after Tran connected on his third 3-pointer of the quarter, cutting the lead to 62-60 with three seconds left. But Dominic Zanella then made 1 of 2 free throws to put San Benito up by three, and Derek Muaava, who led the 76ers with 19 points, ended the game with a desperation half-court shot at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime. The long-distance trey, however, sailed wide left of the basket.
“We just kept our heads in the game. We were calm the whole time,” said Zanella, who finished with eight points and a team-high eight rebounds. “It never got out-of-hand for us. We just kept our cool.”
Maybe that’s because it was nothing new. It was another close game for San Benito, which has grown accustomed to fourth-quarter adversity this season, having now played in 11 games decided by four points or less. The ‘Balers are 5-6 in those games.
“They’ve become more comfortable about accepting the pressure and as the game progresses, it becomes more intense,” Becerra said. “We just all grow, mature, and I think it happens naturally; getting used to the pressure, the intensity of the games.
“A lot of these guys didn’t play a lot last year on varsity, and now they’re coming in. They’re adjusting and doing a great job.”
After San Benito held a 19-16 first-quarter lead – they shot 7 of 10 from the field in the opening period – the ‘Balers opened the second on a 9-2 run and built a 28-18 lead early.
But after the Sixers called a timeout, Independence erased the 10-point deficit behind seven second-quarter points from Roy Talactac, who finished with 12 for the game.
Independence led 33-32 at halftime.
“They started breaking our (2-2-1) press at the end of the first half,” Rickard said. “We just went to the zone and shut them down.”
With the Sixers unable to penetrate the zone, the ‘Balers had a chance to blow the game open in the third quarter when they forced seven turnovers on Independence. Hollister couldn’t capitalize on opportunities, though, shooting 4 of 12 from the field and 2 of 6 at the free-throw line in the third quarter.
San Benito did, however, take a five-point lead early in the fourth quarter after a 15-footer from Zanella, whose eight points all came in the second half.
And Independence didn’t have much of an answer for Rickard either, who was 10 of 16 from the field Thursday, pocketing 10 points in the first quarter and nine more in the fourth. Eric Elayda had nine points for the ‘Balers, while Tim Von Urff had six rebounds and six assists.
San Benito will play Piedmont Hills Saturday at 2:45 p.m.
“They’re the No. 1 seed,” Becerra said. “They’ve got to be very good to get the No. 1 seed.”
Notes:
San Benito shot 47 percent (23 of 49) from the field, 11 of 19 from the line … Independence shot 46 percent (24 of 52) from the field, 5 of 11 from the line … Both teams committed 15 turnovers apiece.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SANB 19 13 11 20 – 63
INDP 16 17 12 15 – 60
San Benito (63): J. Canchola 3-9 5-6 12, I. Corral 1-3 0-0 2, E. Elayda 4-8 0-0 9, T. Rickard 10-16 3-6 27, K. Vallejo 2-6 1-2 5, D. Zanella 3-4 2-4 8.
Three-point goals: J. Canchola 1, E. Elayda 1, T. Rickard 4.
Independence (60): B. Potter 1-6 0-0 2, T. Tran 4-5 0-0 11, J. Tran 1-1 0-0 2, J. Villanueva 3-4 1-2 7, M. Refuerzo 1-4 1-2 3, D. Muaava 8-15, 0-0 19, A. Delos Santos 1-6 0-0 2, J. Abella 1-1 0-0 2, R. Talactac 4-7 3-7 12.
Three-point goals: T. Tran 3, D. Muaava 3.
