HOOPS: Baler boys snap 6-game losing .

HOLLISTERAlthough Eric Elayda was modified to merely 5 points, the senior guard deposited his entire point number in the last moments of Monday night's non-conference game against visiting Seaside.Draining a 3-pointer late, then adding a couple of free throws late in the game proved to be good enough, as Elayda and the San Benito boys basketball team outlasted the Spartans 55-52 in Hollister to catch a six-game losing streak.

We required a win in the worst way," San Benito head coach Tracy Carpenter said afterward. "We had lost six close games, four in the last possession, three on the final shot."Seaside could have actually tied Monday's game on the final shot, but neither of the Spartans' 3-point attempts would fall, and the Balers held on for a three-point win as a result.The victory improves San Benito to 2-6 on the year, with Monday's game supplying the squad with its first victory since the season opener on Nov. 29 against Gonzales.It didn't initially appear that Monday's game against Seaside would come into the win column, though; not after San Benito fell behind 14-5 in the 1st quarter."We got off to a bad start. We got behind, which is not what we wanted," Carpenter said. "But we came back."The Balers erased their entire nine-point deficit in the 2nd quarter when they outscored the Spartans 15-6 to tangle the game 20-all at the break.In the second half, San Benito went up by as many as 10 points when Seaside took command and went on an 18-0 run."It was a plot of runs," said Carpenter, whose Balers then went on a run of their own to cut into Seaside's eight-point lead. "But we got some stops when we had to," he added.With the two teams tied late in the 4th quarter, Elayda nailed a 3-pointer to back the Balers to a slight lead. Seaside's Donovan Salvant, who deposited a game-high 22 points, answered right back with a two-point basket, but Elayda sunk both of his ensuing free throws to push San Benito back ahead by three points.With 10 seconds remaining, Seaside had one last possession to tie the game, and it managed to get two 3-point attempts off, but neither shot went in. "This was a just confidence-booster," Carpenter said. "We found it out and establish a way to win."San Benito got a scoring boost from Jordan Belton, who, after scoring just two points in the 1st half, got into foul trouble in the third and fourth quarters and played limited minutes as a result.The junior guard still managed to spend a team-high 14 points against Seaside, though, and attached on two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter."He played well while being in wicked trouble," Carpenter said.Meanwhile, the Balers got good production out of its centers, with Ryan Di Salvo contributing nine points and Jacob Tonascia adding seven, while forward Cooper Sepulveda chimed in with 7 points as well.San Benito is now off for a vacation break, and won't yield to the court until Monday, Dec. 27, when it will open the Condor Christmas Classic in Castroville.The Balers will square off against the host team, North Monterey County, on Monday night at 8 p.m. TEAM 1 2 3 4 FSEAS 14 6 16 16 52SANB 5 15 17 18 55San Benito (55): J. Belton 3 2 2-3 14, H. Mishkin 1 0 0-0 2, C. Sepulveda 3 0 1-1 7, E. Elayda 0 1 2-2 5, T. Rickard 2 0 0-0 4, D. Gutierrez 0 0 0-1 0, R. Di Salvo 3 0 3-3 9, J. Tonascia 1 0 4-5 7, R. Henderson 1 0 0-0 2, M. Breen 1 1 0-0 5.
Free Lance Sports Staff Got a motion or a comment? Send us an email.