The annual Oakdale Rotary Holiday Tournament took place this past week. Oakdale High School hosted the basketball tournament and welcomed in seven other schools. Making the trip for the tournament were Ripon, Ripon Christian, Riverbank, Enochs, Johansen, Sonora and Escalon. On Dec. 26 the tournament began, and Oakdale’s varsity boys knocked out Escalon in the first round. The next night Oakdale fell to longtime rival Sonora. The Mustangs finished the tournament with a third place showing as they defeated Ripon.
It was a 20-point victory over Escalon that set the tone for Oakdale. In the finale of the opening night slate of games, Oakdale defeated the Cougars 64-44. In the second round it was a rough night for the Mustangs. Sonora defeated Oakdale 52-30. It was a slow start for Oakdale as Sonora led 16-7 with 1:07 remaining in the first quarter resulting in a timeout for the Mustangs. The Mustangs made three field goals in the first quarter and trailed 18-9 after the opening frame. Oakdale’s offense picked up in the second quarter as Jake Norris connected on a three-point ball, Noah Zepeda scored on a goal tending call. Then, a fast break layup by Gavin Wyatt and a corner three by Zepeda made it 26-16 Sonora. However, Sonora answered with a 10-0 run making it 36-16 at the half. Oakdale’s struggles continued in the second half and they found themselves down 44-21 to start the fourth quarter. Norris finished with eight points and five rebounds.
Oakdale regrouped the following night when they took on Ripon for third place. It was a 66-43 victory for the Mustang varsity squad. A three ball by Wyatt gave the Mustangs a 13-11 advantage with 3:46 remaining in the first quarter. Wyatt completed a three-point play as he made a free throw following a foul with 6:43 left in the half to go up 22-17. Zepeda connected on a deep three-point field goal to extend the lead to 27-17 with 5:29 left in the half. Jacob Kindrick’s fast break layup made it 34-17 with 2:57 left in the half. Griffin Galuppi passed the ball to Kindrick for an assist to go up 37-19 with 2:06 remaining in the half. Oakdale outscored Ripon 25-4 in the second quarter and led 42-19 at halftime.
Kindrick found Benninger for a three-point field goal as the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter as Oakdale went up 53-31. Kindrick finished the game with 10 points, four rebounds and four assists. He was also named to the All-Tournament Team.
For the junior varsity, Oakdale went 1-2 during the tournament. They lost to Escalon 59-53, defeated Sonora 57-37 and lost to Enochs 58-38. In the win against Sonora Luke Kirpatrick had a game high 27 points.
In the team’s final game against Enochs, Oakdale started fast as Donovan Long began the game with a steal and fast break layup to go up 7-2. However, Enochs went on a 10-2 run to end the quarter. The scoring drought continued for Oakdale’s JV boys until Long hit a three-point shot late in the half to trim the lead to 21-12. Fred Herschbeck made a floater in the lane with less than 10 seconds remaining in the half. Oakdale trailed 30-16 at halftime. Kirkpatrick put in a layup to start the third quarter and Bryson Lambert drove hard to the basket with 4:53 remaining in the third as the host JV team trailed 37-21. Enochs went on a 14-0 run to end the third quarter, leaving Oakdale down 51-25 to start the fourth quarter. Wyatt Crouch overpowered multiple Enochs players down low for a basket late in the game for two of his eight points in the game. Crouch added seven rebounds in the loss for Oakdale.
