Oakdale High custodians should check the roof of the Mustang gymnasium for holes, because Austin Archuleta shot the roof off the place on Feb. 1.

Archuleta sank four three-point shots in the opening quarter and ended with eight converted treys and a game-high 35 points as the Mustangs rallied to stifle visiting Kimball 64-53 during Oakdale’s Winter Homecoming.

Archuleta was also a perfect seven-for-seven from the free-throw line, including a 6-for-6 stanza in the final period as Kimball fouled to try and escape the deficit.

Kimball would rally to drain more three-pointers (nine) than two-point field goals (seven), but missed seven of their last 13 free throws.

Oakdale led 26-23 at the half and stayed ahead with a 17-12 third-quarter rally and 21-18 standoff in Mustang favor through the fourth period.

Kimball’s Devante Baise dropped in six treys for a team-high 20 points, but couldn’t match the heroic effort of Archuleta. Oakdale also saw scoring from Spencer Thomas (10 points), DeWayne Finney (eight), Josh Watts (four), Kyle Osborne (three), Jaidyn Sheetz (two) and Gerardo Esparza (two).

Oakdale is 3-1 across the last two weeks of Valley Oak League play, having avenged two prior conference losses in the process and advancing to 3-8 in league play.

They beat playoff-bound East Union (13th seed in the Division IV power ratings) on Jan. 23 and can play the spoiler for 14th-seeded Manteca when the two teams meet on Tuesday, Feb. 12 during Senior Night in the OHS gym. Oakdale can do the same with 18th-seeded Lathrop today, Feb. 6 and plays at Sonora on Friday, Feb. 8.

 JV/Frosh

The Oakdale junior varsity team beat Kimball 50-40 after a 14-point effort from Shane Baxter. Octavio Padilla (nine), Dylan Farquhar (seven), Spenser Hager (six), Adam Olsen (six), Wade Branch (four) and Brock Whiting (four) also scored.

The Mustang freshmen fell 54-43 to Kimball despite a game-high 17 points from Lane Trapp. Pedro Rodriguez (six), Derrick Pennington (two), Robert Bagly (two) and James Monges (two) also scored.