Sometimes it is good to dodge a bullet. No. 4 Manteca found a way to dodge a cannon ball Friday night in the Buffaloes’ 57-54 overtime victory against visiting No. 5 Vanden of Fairfield in the quarterfinals of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs at Winter Gym. 

 “They are a really good basketball team,” Manteca coach Brett Lewis said. “They were good enough to be the No. 2 seed but they got upset by Wood so that knocked them down a bit. We knew they were not going to go away.

 “We have a lot of seniors and I feel that helped us hold our composure.”

 The Vikings (20-9) never led in regulation, closing a 50-46 gap with 3:03 left in the fourth quarter to 50-50 with 1:08 remaining. The Buffaloes (21-9) missed six free throws in that final 3:03 and Vanden returned the favor, missing the front end of a one-and-one with 6.9 seconds remaining.

 With 13.7 seconds showing on the overtime clock and Manteca clinging to a 55-54 lead, the Buffaloes’ Jorge Cedano battled for half the court to come up with a rebound and when he did he was fouled. He made one free throw and later Isaiah Victor added another to ice the win.

 “I just attacked the rebound as best I could,” Cedano said. “I have to tip my hat to them. They did a pretty good job on me and I couldn’t get my shots to fall, so I had to do whatever else I could to help the team.”

 The cousins Victor, Isaiah and Domonick, took turns dominating a quarter with Domonick Victor scoring 13 points behind three 3-pointers in the first quarter and Isaiah Victor tallying 11 points in the third quarter.

 Isaiah Victor finished with 19 points and six rebounds.

 “We had to step up big time,” Isaiah Victor said. “We have seven seniors and we had to get it done.”

 Domonick Victor tallied a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

“In the first quarter I just took what they gave me,” Domonick Victor said. “They gave me a lot early and I took it.

 “Later they took me out of the game and other people stepped up. Isaiah (Victor), Jorge (Cedano) and Jordan (Burciaga) all stepped up.”

 Burciaga had 14 points in limited action due to foul trouble, Nick Bell pulled in six rebounds and Miguel Sequeira dished out five assists.

 Vanden’s Teino Hardee shared high-point honors with Domonick Victor at 18 points, but that was only around half of his season average of 35 points per game.

 As a result of the quarterfinal win Manteca has punched its ticket to NorCals but first will continue the section playoffs Wednesday in Stockton against a familiar foe in Valley Oak League champion Weston Ranch in a semifinal contest at 7 p.m.

Weston Ranch 64, Center 46

 STOCKTON – Gavin Wilburn tallied a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead top-seeded Weston Ranch (29-1) into the semifinals.

 Raul Melgarejo added16 points and seven rebounds; Myson Coilton chipped in 14 points, six rebounds and five assists and Donjae’ Lindsey scored all of his 13 points in the second half.

 Weston Ranch squares off with VOL rival Manteca at home Wednesday night in a semifinal contest at 7 p.m.