Haybalers’ bid for five-game winning streak ends with 55-43 loss
to Chieftains; San Benito hopes for best when CCS seeds are
announced Sunday
With a Central Coast Section bid already sewn up, the San Benito boys basketball team took the court in Salinas last night hoping to improve its playoff seeding. A win in their regular season finale would also vault the Haybalers into the postseason riding the momentum of a five-game winning streak.
Unfortunately for the ‘Balers, Palma got in the way.
Unable to get an offensive flow going throughout the game, San Benito couldn’t keep pace with the bigger Chieftains and suffered a 55-43 loss.
“To beat Palma, we had to play at a very high level,” said Haybalers head coach John Becerra, “and today wasn’t one of those days we did. We were just kind of lagging behind them. It was a struggle for us to score. Our offense just sputtered. We just couldn’t get any consistency on offense.”
After winning two straight road games–thrilling nailbiters over Live Oak and Salinas–San Benito (13-13, 7-5 TCAL) hoped to make it three-in-a-row against the Chieftains, but the Haybalers fell behind early and never caught up.
Palma (19-5, 8-3 TCAL) took a 17-12 lead by the end of the first quarter, and then held San Benito to eight points a piece in the next two quarters to take firm control of the game.
“Our intensity wasn’t there like we had against Salinas or Live Oak,” said Becerra. “The emotion wasn’t there.”
Palma, bidding for second place in the Tri-County Athletic League behind Gilroy, led 31-20 at the half.
Senior Daryl Baladad led the ‘Balers with 10 points, and junior Sterling Wilson added seven points and received kudos from his coach.
“He’s really been improving a lot,” said Becerra of Wilson. “He did a good job. We’re hoping next year he’ll play a lot.”
The loss marked the second time San Benito fell to Palma this season. The visiting Chieftains won the teams’ Jan. 21 meeting, 49-38.
With the CCS selection committee set to convene on Sunday to determine the seeding for the tournament that begins next week, Becerra and the ‘Balers had hoped to make a strong push for a higher seed.
“If we had won today, we might’ve had a shot at a home game,” said the San Benito coach. “We’ll see what happens. It’s going to be tough.”
After the loss, Becerra believed a seed in the No. 12-14 range was about what his team might receive. The Haybalers’ coach hoped that that would be enough to avoid the kiss-of-death of facing one of the West Catholic Athletic League powerhouses on the road to open the tournament.
“I think we can play with anybody–Serra, Bellarmine–,” said Becerra, “but you want to play someone else if at all possible.”
