Acorns lose big lead Thursday against Aptos; beat San Benito
soundly Friday
Gilroy – The Live Oak boys basketball team didn’t want to see a big lead go to waste like it had the night before against Aptos.
So when the Acorns took a comfortable 43-32 lead late in the fourth quarter against San Benito as Dustin Bynum hit a jumper, they tightened their grip on the ‘Balers and didn’t let go.
Live Oak forced three San Benito turnovers in the final two minutes – and matched the ‘Balers at the free throw line – to prevail 45-35 in the second round consolation game of the Bob Hagan Memorial Tournament Friday.
With the lessons of a disappointing first-round loss to Aptos fresh in their minds, the Acorns (6-4) surged when it counted.
“We needed to play four quarters of basketball and be competitive and take care of the ball,” said Live Oak head coach Brett Paolucci. “I thought we did a better job of that tonight.”
Meanwhile, the Acorns’ trapping full-court press caused the ‘Balers (3-6) to get sloppy down the stretch. That tactic, combined with Live Oak switching from man-to-man to a 2-3 zone, helped slow a scrappy ‘Balers team, which was led by Daryl Baladad’s 17 points.
“It slowed them down. Baladad was killing us off the dribble with his jump shot,” Paolucci said. “(The zone and press) seemed to work and we got some points out of it as well.”
Especially in the fourth quarter when Live Oak opened with an 8-2 run. Bynum, who led the Acorns with 10 points, scored on a lay-up off a pass from guard Alex Torshizi. Torshizi came up big a few moments later after coming up with a loose ball and finding Bynum again for another lay-up.
After Baladad hit a pair of free throws for San Benito and cut the score to 29-34, Jeff Mounteer answered with a lay-up on the ensuing inbound pass, a long toss to Live Oak’s end of the floor. After Mounteer’s basket, San Benito turned the ball over under pressure from the Acorns’ press to guard Eric Mutz (9 points), who took the ball in for a lay-up. That forced San Benito to call a time out to try and regroup, but Live Oak stayed strong.
Paolucci credited Mounteer and Torshizi with coming off the bench and energizing the Acorns.
“Coming off the bench is kind of hard,” said Mounteer, who finished with four points. “But I wanted to spark the team and help us win and we accomplished that, so it’s good.”
On Thursday in the opening round of the tournament the Acorns dominated Aptos the entire game, until the Mariners sprang to life in the fourth quarter and outscored Live Oak, 20-9.
“We started playing to lose,” said Paolucci. “We didn’t take care of the ball. We didn’t play good defense.”
Senior Micah Jones led the Acorns with 15 points and Bynum added 13 points in the loss.
Live Oak held Mariners’ forward Russell Mikols was held to just two points through three quarters, but Mikols was able to step up when his team needed him most. Mikols finished with 11 points in the game.
Live Oak will now play the winner of Alvarez and St. Francis today at 10:30am for the consolation championship.
LIVE OAK (45)
Bynum 3 4-5 10, Mutz 3 2-2 9, Greene 1 4-6 7, Jones 3 0-0 6, Long 2 1-2 5, Mounteer 2 0-0 4, Silveira 1 0-0 2, Mahan 0 2-2 2. Totals 15 14-18 45.
SAN BENITO (35)
Baladad 6 3-6 17, Janisch 0 6-8 6, Wilkins 1 2-2 4, Bautista 1 0-0 3, Medeiros 1 0-0 3, Burley 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 15-20 35.
