Manteca led for the first 30 minutes of its Ron Peterson Tipoff Tournament semifinal against Calaveras at Riverbank High, but a poor shooting night ultimately doomed the Buffaloes in a 44-42 loss Friday.

Jake Land scored the winning bucket for the Redskins (3-0). He took advantage as Manteca (2-1) focused its defense on 6-foot-7 Brandon Cline and Calaveras’ perimeter sharpshooters on the deciding play. Land penetrated the lane for an uncontested layup with 6 seconds to go. Tydus Verhoeven, who had seconds earlier tied the game, attempted a halfcourt 3 that bounced off the backboard.

“We let it slip away,” Manteca coach Brett Lewis said. “Late in the game it felt like we had the ball for most of the last 5 minutes but we could not finish. We had all the opportunities, just could not capitalize on them.”

Verhoeven finished with eight points, 10 rebounds and five blocks, while 6-foot-8 center Anand Hundal led the way with 14 points and 10 blocks. Hundal was two rebounds shy of a triple-double.

Though they led for much of the game, the Buffaloes (2-1) struggled from the field and hit just 30 percent of their shots. Calaveras challenged them with a sagging zone defense, giving the Buffs ample opportunities to score from the outside.

One frustrating sequence with less than 2 minutes left summed up Manteca’s night. The Buffaloes grabbed four offensive rebounds on one possession and even called two timeouts but came away empty-handed.

Kyle Funk led Calaveras with 12 points, and Cline finished with nine. Angel Perez contributed seven points and seven rebounds for Manteca, which takes on Summerville in the third-place game tonight at 5:30.



Ripon Christian 76,
Summerville 42

Sean Broker continued his early-season onslaught, as he fired 23 points to send the Knights (2-0) to the Ron Peterson Tipoff Tournament final.

Ripon Christian led 28-10 after the first quarter, with Broker accounting for half his team’s points. In Thursday’s opening round, he scored 28 of his 39 points in the first half of an 86-62 trouncing of Oakdale.

“Sean Broker has been really strong for us,” Ripon Christian coach Ron Vander Molen said. “He had 14 points in the first quarter and I had to take him out because he picked up his second foul. The kids played really well and shared the ball on offense. They’re doing well with the uptempo game.”

Travis Vander Molen also got into early foul trouble, as he scored eight of his 11 points in the first. Kyle Colyn chipped in nine points, Austin Alger had eight and nine different Knights scored. They’ll play Calaveras for the championship tonight at 7:30.



Big Valley Tournament

Ceres 63, Ripon 60

Ceres buried three 3s to lead 13-2 to start the game and later won it on Puneet Sahi’s buzzer-beater from halfcourt.

Ripon (2-1) did well to battle back with 6-3 forward Cody Haines still out with a sprained ankle. Only six Indians played with four doing all the scoring. Sophomore guard Aaron Paschini poured in 24 points, six rebounds and seven steals. Mario Roach had 20 points, seven assists and six steals. Cole Stevens scored nine and pulled down 12 rebounds. David Onochi chipped in seven points.

Ripon converted 7 of its 16 free throws and struggled to make shots in the post. Up next is the third-place game against Victory Christian in the 11th Annual Big Valley Christian Holiday Classic. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.



Modesto City Classic

Johansen 53, Lathrop 52

Maurice Woods’ runner gave Johansen (2-2) the lead for good with 2 seconds remaining. Isaiah Ellis, who finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, had a halfcourt heave miss off the side of the rim on the final play.

Avraj Bal also had 16 points and grabbed nine boards.

“It was a tough one to swallow. One we should have won,” Lathrop coach Nathan McGrath said.

The Spartans (0-3) trailed by eight going into the fourth and by five with 40 seconds to go. Ellis and the Spartans benefited from their full-court pressure defense as he delivered three quick transition buckets to put them up by one.



Enochs 78,
East Union 62

A back-and-fourth shootout ended in a rout in this Modesto City Classic contest, as the Eagles (3-0) outscored East Union (0-3) 23-10 in the fourth quarter to run away with the victory.

Sharpshooting sophomore Gyse Hulsebosch broke the 30 for a third time this week, as he nailed four 3s in the first quarter en route to finishing with 34 points.

“Defensively we gotta work on some things,” East Union coach Ryan Tarr said. “We have to find away to sustain ourselves when we go through the offensive lulls and not bury ourselves.”

The Lancers cap tournament play at 4:30 today against Downey.



Sophomore

Calaveras 44,
Manteca 35

Ascari Johnson sank four 3s for his 12 points, but the Buffaloes (3-1) were otherwise cold from the field and the free-throw line in their first loss of the season.

Justin Kakala contributed 10 points. Manteca takes on Summerville today in the third-place game of the Riverbank Tournament.