With fall players finally landing spots on the winter sports rosters, Oakdale High varsity basketball teams saw an influx in production and victories over the past week.
Boys
Oakdale ousted Central Valley in a 60-45 victory on Dec. 7 after a 20-point, 11-rebound performance from Justin Martinez. Nathan Van Ryn tallied 10 points while Vince Fauria added eight with six assists.
Football players Manny Hernandez (six points), Josh Watts (four points) and Marcus Hernandez (one point) all chipped in scores as well.
“The game was up-tempo, but the ability to execute in the half court was the key to victory,” Oakdale coach Jeremy Fields said. “(We) played hard and began to incorporate some newcomers from the football field.”
Oakdale opened the Atwater-Buhach Colony tournament with a 73-52 loss to the host Thunder, but saw a 14-point effort from Manny Hernandez while Watts (nine points, six rebounds) and Martinez (eight points, six rebounds) played well.
Oakdale trailed by only a point after a period, by 10 at the half and by only eight points with two minutes to play.
With only eight players available for the final two games of tourney play, Oakdale faltered to a 55-47 loss to Gregori and a 62-54 loss to Livingston.
The program will re-tool with much needed practices in preparation for a home bout with Pacheco on Dec. 21 and the Oakdale Rotary Classic kicking off on Dec. 28.
“Oakdale took away some positives from the week loaded with games, and that was the importance of supporting each other as a team, and to continue to play hard to the end,” Fields said. “These are qualities the Mustang basketball team will continue to showcase throughout the season.”
Girls
The Lady Mustangs opened the Lady Eagles Classic with an 81-18 loss to host McNair on Dec. 8, but fired back with a 52-9 win over Pacheco and a hard-fought 41-26 loss to Liberty Ranch in the consolation finals.
Ashley Edwards and Francesca Orvis (three-pointer) each scored six on McNair while Kylie Gust (three), Mackenzie Ruthman (two) and Blanca Lara (one) found the bottom of the net.
Lara exploded for 20 points against Pacheco while Gust (11), Edwards (seven), Jordan Esparza (five), Orvis (four), Ruthman (two), Janny Garcia (two), Katie Rodgers (one) all contributed to the scoring.
Oakdale outscored Liberty Ranch 8-4 in the final period but could not erase a big deficit.
Edwards put up eight while Orvis (five), Emma Andreini (four) and Gust (three). Lara, Esparza and Ruthman landed two points each in the loss.
Oakdale is at Downey on Friday.
