SANTA CLARA
–– The Haybalers haven’t lost a game in nearly two months. Their
tenth consecutive win came in the quarterfinals of the Central
Coast Section Division 1 Playoffs on Saturday.
SANTA CLARA –– The Haybalers haven’t lost a game in nearly two months. Their tenth consecutive win came in the quarterfinals of the Central Coast Section Division 1 Playoffs on Saturday.
No. 5 San Benito defeated No. 4 Menlo-Atherton 58-52 to advance to the CCS semifinals for the first time in school history. The semifinals will be held Wednesday again at Santa Clara High School.
San Benito (21-6, 9-1 TCAL) will play at 6 p.m. against No. 1 Piedmont Hills. If the Balers can keep the streak going, they will face the winner of No. 2 Bellarmine and No. 3 Milpitas.
“It was a well disciplined game,” said Baler coach David Kaplansky. “They (the Bears) are conference champions, and they fought hard the whole game. We were making our buckets. When we do that, we are a tough team to beat with our defense. We went with a smaller rotation, and they were a little tired by the end.”
The Balers took an early 7-0 lead and were never behind in the contest.
“We just wanted to come out intense from the start,” Kaplansky said. “We kind of learned our lesson last year when we fell into a big hole right from the start.”
“We didn’t execute in the first quarter,” said Menlo-Atherton coach Craig Carlson, whose team finishes the season at 22-6. “The shots that we got weren’t even that good of shots. I thought with another pass or two, we could have gotten better shots off.”
San Benito was up 17-7 at the end of the first quarter after forcing the quick shots and not allowing the Bears to get set up. In that quarter, Menlo-Atherton was just 3 for 16 after missing several layups and open shots. By halftime, San Benito had a 31-22 lead.
“We came out tentative,” Carlson said. “It seems like that is the way we have come out that way the last couple games. We’ve been working on that during practice. We are a better shooting team than that. We were playing a quick up and down, which is, to some extent, is our game.”
Kyle Sharp, who led all players with 19 points, came up big like he has done all year for the Balers. Even when he was guarded by the Bears’ best player Dan Trautman, Sharp pulled up and hit 15-foot jumpers with ease just like it were practice.
Sharp came up with a couple huge plays in the fourth quarter when Menlo-Atherton was threatening.
Roody Harrison opened up the fourth quarter with a three pointer – one of his two in the quarter – to move Menlo-Atherton within 41-36.
But the Balers got three quick baskets in the next minute to force Menlo-Atherton to call a timeout down 11. During that span, Daryl Baladad had a steal, took it the other way, got set and made the basket.
After another steal, Baladad found Sharp for a one-handed dunk. Sharp hasn’t had a dunk since the game against Live Oak.
“I don’t dunk unless I am wide open,” Sharp said. “I want to make sure I can make it so I don’t give up the easy points.”
Sharp had a couple blocks – one on Trautman – to force the Bears to call a timeout down 52-47. And with about two minutes to go, Sharp hit a jumper despite Trautman’s best efforts to foul him.
In a reversal of roles, Sharp found Mike Moisa with less than a minute left on a fast break for a basket. Usually Moisa and the rest of the guards are finding Sharp and Anthony Butler for the assists.
“We knew if we got into a half-court game, it would be tough,” Hartwig said. “We really wanted to get the pressure on with the guards. In the first half, our guards were outplayed.”
The Balers were double and triple teaming 6-foot-5 Trautman whenever he got the ball and limited him to 14 points.
Butler was also serving up some serious damage in the post for the Balers. He had 17 points, including seven in the first quarter to help set the table. Sharp and Butler grabbed just about every rebound and left few second chances for the Bears.
“We were doing a lot of good things both offensively and defensively,” Bulter said. “We were moving the ball around. The guards did a good job handling the pressure and finding us. We wanted to keep our intensity up.”
San Benito had a good perimeter game. In addition to three pointers by Sharp, Moisa and Eric Davis, there were also several long jumpers by players like Baladad and Kevin Zanella.
“We’ve been practicing shooting them all week,” Zanella said. “The key for us was coming out intense. We had a really good practice last week.”
Carlson said the route to the championship wouldn’t be easy with the talent in the area.
“Division 1 is no joke,” Carlson said. “Piedmont Hills has really good guards, and they are quick. Bellarmine probably has probably played the toughest schedule in preseason and league, so I would have to give them the nod. But if you don’t shoot well, it is all over.”
San Benito 17 14 10 17–58
Menlo-Atherton 7 15 11 19–52
San Benito: Sharp 9 0-0 19, Butler 7 3-6 17, Moisa 3 0-0 7, Baladad 3 0-0 6, Zanella 2 0-0 4,Davis 1 2-4 5. Totals 25 5-10 58
Menlo-Atherton: Trautman 6 0-0 2 14, Peterson 4 3-5 11, Harrison 2 0-0 6, Yob 2 0-0 5, Dallmar 2 1-2 5, Finkle 2 0-0 5, Daiss 1 0-0 2, Hogue 1 0-0 2, Contreras 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 4-7 52.
3-point goals: SB-Sharp, Moisa, Davis. MA-Trautman (2), Harrison (2), Yob, Finkle.
