Ben Baker hits a fade for two of his game-high 27 against De Anza
Posted: Jan 25, 2020
Trailing De Anza 52-50 with 5:21 to go, the West Valley basketball team went on a 10-2 run to escape Cupertino with an important 60-54 Coast-South win over the Dons.
The Vikings (12-8, 3-2 Coast-South) took a 30-24 into the locker room at halftime thanks to 10 points from Ben Baker and five from Leland Estacio. After the teams traded buckets for most of the second half, De Anza (9-12, 2-3) grabbed a 42-41 lead on a pair of Jordan Alexander free throws at 11:31. Two John Vergara free throws put the Dons up 52-50 with 5:21 left. It was all West Valley from there.
Seeing his first action of the night, Ryan Hewitt tied it at 52-52 at 5:02 with a rebound basket and then six straight free throws from Baker, Adam Afifi and Estacio, sandwiched around a Baker bucket, closed it out.
Baker finished with a game-high 27 points, followed by Estacio with 11, Afifi with eight and Devon Banks with six. Vergara and Dominic Simpkins paced the Dons with 14 each, while Alexander hit double figures with 10.
West Valley hosts Coast-South leader Cabrillo (12-9, 4-1) Wednesday (1/29) to close out the first half of the conference schedule. Tipoff is 7:00pm.
