The San Benito boys basketball team will live to see another day
at the Independence Fukushima Invitational, after a strong first
quarter led to a 69-49 win over Monta Vista Thursday.
The San Benito boys basketball team will live to see another day at the Independence Fukushima Invitational, after a strong first quarter led to a 69-49 win over Monta Vista Thursday.
Tyler Ruiz and Marty Bueno each contributed 14 points on the night, while Brian Haggett poured in 12 points and recorded plenty of steals in the first quarter to open up a comfortable Haybaler lead.
Coach John Becerra said the ‘Balers scored a lot of their points in the first quarter off turnovers, and Haggett did a good job of causing those turnovers on Monta Vista. Additionally, Bueno’s shot is beginning to fall, the coach said, as San Benito led 20-5 after one quarter.
“We came out pretty aggressive,” Becerra said. “It happened kind of quick.”
San Benito will now play today at 4:30 p.m. against the winner of Thursday’s late game between Homestead and Fremont. The game will be for fifth or sixth place at the Fukushima Invitational.
Becerra added that Dominic Zanella did a tremendous job on the boards, while the team shot 6 of 9 from the free-throw line.
“After that, they settled down,” Becerra said of the opening quarter. “After that, we began to push it up court and get some good shots off.”
Team 1 2 3 4 F
SB 20 10 18 21 69
MV 5 9 17 16 49
SB (69) – Medina 1 0 0 2, Canchola 1 1 0 5, VonUrff 3 0 2 8, Pina 1 0 0 2, Bueno 7 0 0 14, Haggett 5 0 2 12, Burley 3 0 0 6, Zanella 2 0 2 6, Ruiz 7 0 0 14.
MV (49) – Lang 5 0 1 11, Kannegati 1 5 2 19, Bran 1 2 0 8, Mendoza 2 0 3 7, Lin 1 0 2 4.
Girls Basketball
Salinas
The San Benito girls basketball team lost their first game of the season Thursday at the Bill Getris Classic in Salinas, but it was against a team coach David Kaplansky said was the real deal.
San Benito lost 65-53 to Northgate of Walnut Creek in the opening game of the Classic. Vanessa Farias had 18 points behind four 3-pointers and Elena Fata added 13 points behind eight free throws.
In fact, the Lady ‘Balers shot 14 of 15 from the charity stripe Thursday, much improved from the team’s 7 of 14 performance on Monday against Live Oak.
“They’ll be the best team we’ll play all year,” Kaplansky said. “The Northgate coach said that we’re an extremely improved team.”
San Benito trailed 33-32 at halftime before Northgate opened up a lead after outscoring the Lady ‘Balers 13-7 in the third quarter.
“We didn’t take a shot in the first two-and-a-half minutes,” Kaplansky said of the third. “We were making bad passes, and they jumped on us.
“But we came back in the fourth quarter. They just hit a couple of baskets late.”
San Benito will play their second game today against Santa Teresa of San Jose. Santa Teresa lost to Notre Dame 42-40.
But Kaplansky said he was pleased with Thursday’s game, calling Northgate a legitimate “powerhouse.”
“I really liked the effort from our girls,” he said. “It shows that we’ll be able to compete with any team.”
Today’s game against Santa Teresa will be held at Salinas High School at 3:30 p.m.
Team 1 2 3 4 F
SB 18 14 7 14 53
NG 20 13 13 19 65
SB (53) – Aguilera 1 0 2 4, Ademek 1 0 0 2, Farias 1 4 4 18, Fata 1 1 8 13, Halstead 5 0 0 10, Romero 3 0 0 6.
Girls Soccer
Soquel
The soccer match between San Benito and Soquel was canceled due to visible lightening on Thursday in Soquel.
The junior varsity game – which was “dominated” by San Benito, coach Mike Schurig said – was called a 1-1 tie just 15 minutes into the second half.
Officials spotted lightning in the distance, and after waiting one hour, they decided to call the varsity match as well.
Although the match will likely be rescheduled, no official date has been set.
