In their only contest of the week, Oakdale’s varsity basketball boys came away with a 41-36 home win over Sierra. The Valley Oak League contest took place on Wednesday, Jan. 8.
It was a sluggish start for Oakdale as they only managed to score five points in the first quarter. Their first points of the game came on a layup by Bryce Busam to tie the game at two with 5:03 left in the first quarter. Oakdale trailed 10-5 at the end of the first quarter.
Putting together a stronger second quarter effort, Griffin Galuppi had an assist as he found Jake Norris in the corner for a three-point jumper to make it 10-8 with 4:56 remaining in the first half. Oakdale got their first advantage of the evening when Busam got an assist when he found Norris down low to give Oakdale a 13-12 lead with 3:49 left in the half. Busam got his third assist of the half on a dish to Noah Zepeda for a corner three. Oakdale then trailed by an 18-17 deficit just before the half.
Second half action saw Zepeda connect on a long three-pointer to give Oakdale a 20-18 advantage with 6:03 left in the third quarter. Jacob Kindrick racked up an assist when he found Norris at the top of the key for a long three-point basket to go up 26-18 with 3:56 left in the third quarter. Niki Jones got the crowd on their collective feet when he pulled down an offensive rebound and overpowered a pair of Sierra defenders for a basket to end the third quarter. Oakdale surrendered just three points in the third quarter to take a 30-21 lead into the final quarter.
With 3:08 remaining in regulation, Galuppi found Jacob Cavanaugh for a three-point shot to give Oakdale a 33-27 lead as Sierra tried to mount a comeback. Two minutes later Cavanaugh connected on another three-pointer and was fouled during the shot; earning him a trip to the free throw line. Cavanaugh missed the attempt but got the offensive rebound and made the put back to extend the Mustangs advantage to 40-32.
Norris led the team with 13 points and nine rebounds. Cavanaugh had nine points.
Oakdale is scheduled to host Mountain House on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. Friday night the boys will travel to Modesto for a showdown with Central Catholic at 7 p.m.
JV/FRESHMEN
For the JV boys, they battled hard throughout the contest but took a 59-50 loss to the visiting Timberwolves in the Jan. 8 VOL game. They take the court for a 6 p.m. tip off Wednesday against a tough Mountain House squad and will be at Central Catholic on Jan. 17.
The freshmen came away winners in the game against Sierra, taking a seven-point victory with a final score of 53-46. The youngest Mustangs had a 20-18 lead at the half and put the game away with a strong run in the fourth quarter. They are on the home court for a 4:30 p.m. game Jan. 15, hosting Mountain House and play at Central, 4:30 p.m. tipoff, on Jan. 17.
