The 2024-2025 Valley Oak League season is underway for the Oakdale High School varsity basketball Mustangs. On Thursday, Jan. 2 the boys headed to Manteca for a road trip to face off with East Union. In the Valley Oak League season opener, it was the host Lancers with a 48-38 victory.

Saturday afternoon, Jan. 4, Oakdale hosted Manteca in a thriller. The large turnout of fans was treated to a nailbiter that saw the Buffaloes come away with a 58-52 victory.

Manteca opened the game with a 13-2 run, including an 11-0 run after the game was briefly tied at two; forcing a timeout for Oakdale with 3:47 left in the first quarter. Jacob Kindrick broke the run when he scored a basket in the paint making it 13-4. The Mustangs trailed 18-6 after the first quarter.

Bryce Busam got the home crowd on their collective feet when he stole the ball away and got a fast break layup on the other end of the floor to cut the deficit to 24-12 with 6:02 remaining in the first half. Griffin Galuppi pulled down an offensive rebound and scored using the backboard, as the Mustangs were down 26-14 with 4:43 left in the second quarter. Seconds later Noah Zepeda connected on a corner three-pointer to make it 26-17. Oakdale trailed 33-22 at the half.

The Mustangs came out swinging to start the third quarter. Jake Norris had five points, two steals and a rebound in the first two minutes of the half. Galuppi finished off a three-point play to make it 33-30 with 5:43 left in the third quarter as the Mustangs came roaring back, giving the home crowd plenty to cheer about. Shortly thereafter, Zepeda knocked down a deep three-point jumper to make it 38-36 Manteca. The Buffaloes then scored on a layup at the buzzer to enter the fourth quarter with 43-38 lead. Down 46-38 with 6:50 remaining in the game, Niki Jones split a pair of free throw attempts for Oakdale. Jacob Cavanaugh connected on a fadeaway jumper to make it a 49-43 deficit. With 3:27 remaining in the game Cavanaugh made a layup making it a 51-47 deficit. Following a missed free throw attempt, Manteca pulled down an offensive rebound and made a mid-range jumper to go up 53-47 with 1:22 left to play. Zepeda was fouled during a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws to bring the Mustangs within a 55-52 deficit with 38.5 seconds left. Oakdale did not make another basket down the stretch but did battle back against the visitors after being down early.

Oakdale’s only game this week is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 8 when they host Sierra at 7 p.m.