To say the least, the OHS varsity boys basketball team has had a difficult 2016-17 season. The boys played three games this past week and came up short in all three, stretching their Valley Oak League losing streak to 23. The team last won a league game on Feb. 11, 2015.

Oakdale dropped two games at home, one against Lathrop, 67-42 and one to Manteca, 59-31. They then hit the road on Saturday and fell to Sierra, 58-32.

The Mustangs were paced by a 19-point effort from Nick Woody against Lathrop to open up the week.

On Thursday night the boys welcomed the defending state champion Manteca Buffaloes to town. Oakdale was not intimidated by the much larger and athletic visitors, who are undefeated in league play. The Mustangs began with a fast pace and built up an early lead with a steal by Blake Whiting. The senior went vertical and delivered a one-handed dunk to give Oakdale an 8-5 advantage with 1:37 left to play in the first. Oakdale led 10-9 at the end of the first quarter.

The Mustangs offense struggled the rest of the game, as they were outscored 50-21 over the final three quarters. Junior Jace Krick stopped Oakdale’s second quarter scoring drought with a made free throw with 5:27 left in the half. Oakdale was held to just three points in the second quarter, Joseph Lutz made the team’s only field goal of the quarter with 21.3 seconds left in the half. Like they did in the first quarter, Oakdale came out of the locker room fired up. The Mustangs opened the quarter on a 6-2 run and scored 11 points in that frame to trail 50-24 after three periods.

Regardless of the record, Oakdale stays competitive and has seven games remaining on their schedule. They host East Union tonight, Wednesday, Jan. 25 with tipoff at 7 p.m. The Mustangs will travel to Central Catholic on Friday evening.

JUNIOR VARSITY

Like their older counterparts, the junior varsity team went 0-3 this past week. Oakdale lost to Lathrop on Tuesday, 51-34. Sam Medlin scored 16 points and teammate Aron Camron added 10 for Oakdale. Thursday night the boys fell to visiting Manteca 46-36. Medlin scored a dozen for the Mustangs and Camron provided 11 in the loss. Saturday the boys went to play Sierra and ran into a buzz saw, losing 60-23. Medlin and Ryan Snodgrass had eight points apiece.

FRESHMEN

Oakdale outscored Manteca 16-9 after the first quarter but could not keep up the momentum. The youngest Mustangs were outscored 17-9 in the second quarter and went to the break down by one. Oakdale lost the Thursday night game 62-53.