Friday, Dec. 16, 2011

Defense leads Los Banos boys basketball over Dos Palos

Coach, players say team defense sparked fast start

The Los Banos High boys basketball team has jumped out to a 5-1 start after a 58-30 win over rival Dos Palos Tuesday at home.

First-year Los Banos coach Mike Bonillas credited team defense with the quick start after earning his first home win as a varsity head coach.

"We held them to three points in the first quarter," Bonillas said. "We're playing phenomenal team defense. We're really putting it on them when we get a chance. We try to get it to where when we see a weakness, they'll exploit it."

It didn't hurt that DP went cold, shooting 13 of 59 from the field and 2 of 10 from the charity stripe.

"I thought that our shooting would get better, but it didn't," DP coach Howard Redding Sr. said. "I think that we were intimidated tonight, especially in the second half."

Los Banos applied a press in the third quarter, after Redding had burned a couple of timeouts. It led to a 22-point quarter for the Tigers.

"We're just playing great together. We know what each other's thinking," LB forward Joey Bennett said. "We have such great team chemistry -- we play as one, so that's why it kills other teams."

Dos Palos has decent size in Fernando Rodriguez and Marcus Chanez, but had trouble penetrating into the paint on offense.

"Our big guys played excellent," Bonillas said. "We got in front in the post, got a lot of help on the weak side, our guards played tremendous pressure defense. They have a couple of really good athletes, and we held them."

Bennett led all scorers with 17 points, and Garrett Guilford drained a trio of 3-pointers. Jerry Warren, in his first game back from a broken ankle suffered during football season, led Dos Palos with eight points despite still suffering from the injury.

DP out-rebounded LB 40-34 -- led by center Fernando Rodriguez's dozen -- but Redding pointed to a lack of boxing out and proper screens at crucial times.

For Bonillas, the big third quarter allowed him to get his bench some valuable early-season experience.

"It was good to get all the kids in, being in a situation where we were lucky enough to let everybody play," Bonillas said. "It was fun to watch some of those guys that don't normally get in go out there and run around a little bit."

Los Banos next faces Riverbank, the alma mater of LB assistant coach Aaron Gentry, on Tuesday. Riverbank is 7-0 after a Tuesday win over Bret Harte.

"We've got Riverbank next game, so this game is in the past," Bennett said. "We're worried about Riverbank, and we just want to get another W, go to playoffs, get a high seed and get a home game."

Enterprise reporter David Witte can be reached by phone at 388-6565 or by e-mail at sports@losbanosenterprise.com