Two recent league games for the Oakdale varsity boys’ basketball team ended in defeat. Oakdale’s (4-21, 1-10) difficult week started with a 46-32 home loss to Weston Ranch (14-10, 6-5) on Wednesday, Feb. 1 and then featured a heartbreaking 45-43 road loss to Kimball (6-18, 2-9) later in the week.
At home, the varsity Mustangs started out fast but the offense sputtered the rest of the way. Oakdale outscored the visiting Cougars 9-8 in the first quarter of play, but were outscored 22-8 heading into the fourth quarter. A scoring drought of nearly five minutes came to a close for Oakdale on a layup by Marc Dickson with 3:24 left in the half. Leading the way for Oakdale offensively was Jace Krick with 10 points. Dallon Barfield and Drew Legan contributed six points each in the loss.
On Friday evening the boys led by one at the half against the Jaguars, 22-21. The Mustangs expanded their lead to a 35-28 advantage at the end of three, but were outscored 17-8 in the fourth quarter in the loss. This was Oakdale’s third straight loss since their thrilling double overtime win over East Union on Jan. 25.
Today, Wednesday, Feb. 8 the boys travel to Lathrop (13-11, 5-6) to take on the Spartans. Oakdale’s home finale will be Friday night, Feb. 10 for both Senior Night and Winter Homecoming where Oakdale will crown their winter royal court at halftime against Central Catholic (17-7, 8-3). The Mustangs finish the season on the road against first place Manteca (19-5, 11-0) on Wednesday, Feb. 15. All games are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.
JUNIOR VARSITY
The 2016-2017 season is nearing an end for the junior varsity boys and the team dropped two VOL games this past week. On Wednesday the boys fell to visiting Weston Ranch, 48-33 and lost to Kimball on the road Friday, 62-44. Leading the way for Oakdale on Wednesday were John Foreman and Sam Medlin, each with 12 points in the loss. Aron Cameron scored a game high 16 points on Friday and Medlin scored 13 for Oakdale.
FRESHMEN
A pair of losses for the youngest of the Oakdale hoopsters, as the freshmen dropped two Valley Oak League games this past week. At home the boys fell to Weston Ranch 76-34 on Wednesday, Feb. 1 and also came up on the wrong side of a 61-44 score on Friday night against Kimball on the road. Peyton Bradford led the team with 14 points for Oakdale against Kimball.
“I am proud of the guys tonight. We lost by 45 to them last time and the game was close in the fourth quarter. The game got away from us because we had to foul and they made those free throws,” said head coach Grant Miller.
