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Mustang Basketball Boys Fizzle Over Weekend
Kraude
Freshman Jordan Kraude attempts to knock down a shot Saturday night after being fouled. Kraude and the freshman team fell 61-22 to Sierra, but the team is improving each night and continues to put it all on the line each time they step on the court. DENNIS D. CRUZ/THE LEADER

First place team in the Valley Oak League (VOL), the Sierra Timberwolves, paid a visit to Oakdale High School on Saturday night, Jan. 24 in a varsity boys basketball game. The undersized Mustangs took the court and were over powered, over matched and overwhelmed, as the Wolves clawed their way through the Mustangs 58-18.

Sierra (7-0, 18-2) dominated from the opening tip off when 6’7” senior Joshua Patton went up and threw down an uncontested two hand dunk to start the game. Patton and the Wolves opened the quarter on 13-0 run that was finally halted as OHS senior Octavio Padilla made the team’s only assist of the evening, feeding the ball to fellow senior Shane Baxter, who drained a three-point shot with 3:18 left in the first.

Down 21-5 after one, the night did not get any easier for the home team. Sierra opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run that was broken up by a Mitch MacDonald free throw to make it 30-6 with 1:18 left in the half. The Mustangs went cold for more than 11 minutes, without making a field goal in that timespan, until junior forward Nate Van Cleave hit a 12-foot jumper with four seconds left to play in the half.

Oakdale entered halftime down 34-8; and were down 43-8 with less than a minute play in the third. The varsity boys finished the quarter on a high note, outscoring the Wolves 5-3 in the final 33 seconds. Oakdale’s offensive woes continued in the final frame, however, as they were outscored 12-5.

Oakdale (1-6, 5-13) currently sits in seventh place in the VOL and will battle East Union (0-7, 6-14) on the road on Wednesday, Jan. 28 and return home to take on Central Catholic (3-4, 11-8) on Friday night, Jan. 30. Earlier in the season Oakdale defeated East Union 66-55, and this will be the first league game between Central Catholic and Oakdale since the Raiders joined the VOL this season. Tip-off for both games is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.

 

JUNIOR VARSITY

Down 24-19 at the break, the JV squad found their offense in the third putting up 16 points in the quarter, and took a 35-33 led into the fourth. Unfortunately for the host team, Sierra stormed back and outscored the JV Mustangs 25-12 to walk out Saturday night with a 58-47 road victory. Oakdale was led by sophomore Nick Woody’s 14 points.

 

FRESHMEN

The youngest group of OHS hoopsters took the home court Saturday afternoon when they hosted Sierra. Oakdale fell behind early and never got back to its feet as they fell 61-22 to the visitors. Leading scorer for the frosh boys was Tanner Vejar with eight points.