Entering the fourth quarter down by three points, San Benito’s Jordan Belton looked to pull the Balers closer with the first possession of the final quarter. But a couple of bad Baler passes and turnovers later, the Balers dug themselves into a hole they couldn’t recover from.
San Benito turned the ball over five times in the final eight minutes – and 19 times overall – to lose 53-43 to Salinas. It was the Balers’ third Tri-County Athletic League loss of the year.
It eliminated the Balers from the Tri-County Athletic League championship contention – Palma clinched the championship with a 66-33 victory over Gilroy on Friday – and sends the Balers into a second-place tie with Salinas.
Friday, though, San Benito couldn’t keep pace with the Cowboys for a full four quarters.
“It was fun to play a game for the first three quarters but we just lost it at the end,” San Benito’s Isaiah Acfalle said.
For the first three quarters, the third game between the two league foes was a tough and physical contest. Neither team took a lead larger than five points through three-fourths of the game.
That changed in the final quarter, as the Cowboys capitalized on the Baler mistakes.
“I thought we played really good,” Salinas head coach Joe Chappell said. “We are pretty capable when we put it all together. We are pretty good, just like they are. They are really good, too. Both of us have a good shot at being really competitive at the CCS playoffs. I hope I don’t see them again until the finals.”
Salinas started to slowly pull away as San Benito struggled from the floor, hitting only three field goals. Meanwhile, Salinas, behind four different scorers, added 14 points in the quarter.
“It was a real physical game,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said. “Salinas played very physical and very strong. They played … they out-willed us tonight. They did a great job. I feel like they played a real hard, aggressive style of basketball and it put us in a bad situation tonight.”
For the first three quarters, the Balers matched Salinas’ physicality. The two teams traded points and turnovers. The Balers forced 10 first-half Salinas turnovers, but gave the ball back 12 times. The teams went into halftime tied at 25.
San Benito’s season-long leading-scorer Jordan Belton struggled to find his stroke in the first half, scoring only two points. But Belton found ways to contribute by distributing the ball to Hyram Miskin, who scored 13 first-half points, and recording five steals. Belton finished the contest with 11 points and Miskin ended with a game-high 16 points.
The Balers couldn’t fully capitalize on the Belton steals.
“We were just trying to get stops,” Belton said. “With them you have to get stops. When you get stops you have to make them pay, and we really didn’t do that, that well. When we got our stops we didn’t finish our baskets, and that kind of hurt us.”
He continued: “I’m trying to win every night. I’m going to give it my all. The whole team is going to give it their all, but sometimes that’s just not going to be enough.”
With the team’s overall offensive struggles, Miskin’s second quarter kept the Balers competitive.
“I just did what coach told me to,” Miskin said. “I boxed out and did what I was supposed to do. I was just in the right spots at the right time.”
On the defensive end, despite forcing 17 turnovers, the Balers struggled to contain Arthur Caldwell and Jordan Villandeda, who both scored 15 points.
Regardless of the team’s struggles, San Benito trailed 38-35 entering the final quarter. Fourth quarter turnovers, which led to Salinas’ points, ended up being the Balers’ undoing.
“We played hard but sometimes that’s just ain’t enough,” Belton said. “I mean we couldn’t find a basket – even lay-ups. A lot of mishaps on offense – throwing the ball away. And on defense, not knowing who you’re guarding. We played hard, we played physical, but the will to win just wasn’t really there.”
He continued: “In the fourth quarter … we tried to come back but every time we did they always had a comeback for us. They always had something. It was always something in this game.”
With a win against Alvarez on Wednesday, San Benito will clinch a second-place finish in the TCAL. The Balers will try to avenge an early-season 58-51 loss.
To win, the Balers must improve from Friday’s loss, Kaplansky said.
We just have to get … we have to be more physical,” he said. “We have to do a better job of bodying up on people. We have to do a better job of making shots. Tonight, we had some great looks but we couldn’t knock down shots and we couldn’t grab rebounds. I was just disappointed with our effort tonight. I just thought Salinas out-willed us.”
Wednesday’s game is expected to start at 7 p.m.
