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Tough Valley Oak League Campaign Concludes For Hoopsters
Boys Basketball
hoops

Friday night, Feb. 14 marked the end of the season for the Oakdale High School boys basketball program.

The varsity Mustangs (12-16, 0-12) capped off their season with a road loss to Central Catholic (21-7, 12-0), falling in a 74-49 contest. The Mustangs could not keep pace with the Valley Oak League champion Raiders and went into halftime down 41-25. In the third quarter Oakdale nearly matched the Raiders bucket-for-bucket but then were outscored 19-11 in the fourth quarter. The Mustangs had contributions from all players that stepped on the floor. Six different players scored for Oakdale including a 13-point performance from Jonah Norman. Nathan Criswell and Michael Echavarria each scored eight points. Senior Peyton Bradford scored a season high seven points while Jake Kettering and Landon Nunes each scored five points.

“It was a tough outing but the team battled hard, like they have all season. They never gave up,” said coach Hondo Arpoika.

Two days prior to the season finale, Oakdale lost to host Kimball in Tracy. Despite scoring a season high 74 points, the Mustangs lost on the road by a 91-74 final. The Mustangs looked to pull off the upset but ultimately could not keep up with the Jaguars (12-16, 4-8). Seven different players scored for the Mustangs and five of them scored in double digits. Norman had 19 points, Kettering 18 points, Echavarria 13 points, while Nunes and Criswell each added 10 points.

Oakdale may have gone winless in the competitive VOL but did go 12-3 in non-league games and started the season off with a 10-2 record.

 

JV, FRESHMEN

The junior varsity team fell short at Central Catholic 51-48.

“We played our butts off,” said head coach Kelly Power. “I felt that we overachieved all year and really came together as a team and that way we were successful. This was a great group of kids to coach and be around and I am looking forward to watching them grow as people and basketball players.”

Overall, the Oakdale JV boys went 19-9 and they compiled a record of 6-6 in VOL action.

For the freshman team, the boys finished the season with an 18-10 overall record and finished fourth in VOL with a 5-7 record. The boys lost to Kimball 55-37 and closed out their season on the road with a loss to Central Catholic 54-33. Hunter Baptista scored a team high 13 points against the Raiders.

“The kids played very hard all season and steadily improved. That’s the overall goal for frosh basketball,” said coach Daniel Linder. “I loved the effort and commitment from day one until the very end.”