Evani Gaeta secured the ball off the opening tip-off, took a few dribbles to the top of the 3-point arc and let it fly.
Manteca’s senior point guard hit all net on the shot just 5 seconds into the Valley Oak League contest with visiting Kimball. It was that kind of night for him and the rest of the Buffaloes in the 55-40 win on Friday, when the school inducted its latest Hall of Fame class.
“My coaches encourage me to shoot when I’m open, and I was wide open so I just took the shot,” Gaeta said.
He made three 3s in the first quarter and finished with a game-high 20 points to go with five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
“I had a pretty good night offensively; I didn’t do as good as I needed to defensively,” Gaeta said. “My teammates found me when I was open and I was able to knock down some shots. My teammates kept encouraging me and giving me positive energy, and I just wanted to return that energy back to my teammates and do the best we could to win as a team.”
Elijah Nelson also stepped up for the second-place Buffaloes (6-1, 16-8 overall), who remain a game back of Central Catholic with three to go. The 6-foot forward had success driving to the basket and finishing, despite a size disadvantage against the likes of 6-4, 255-pound Jaylen Anthony Rodgers (two points, two rebounds) and 6-6 Osama Mirghani (three, points, 14 rebounds, three blocks).
“The focus was to attack the basket,” Nelson said. “We knew they were going to be bigger than us and that they were going to try and block our shots, so going at them, getting them in foul trouble and going to the free-throw line was the (game plan). That and taking open shots and being smart with the basketball.”
Manteca also had good contributions from Santiago Sanders (six points, six rebounds) and reserve Micah Crawford (six points, five rebounds, three steals). Peyton Nieman, the team’s leading scorer for the season, had just two points but pitched in with five rebounds and two assists.
“Against some of these teams, Peyton has been deferring more and getting some other guys involved, that way when teams do face guard him or take him out he’s able to do more than just score,” Manteca coach Jason Hitt said. “That was kind of the focus for him tonight. He missed a couple shots early, but did a good job of getting better at racking. We want him to stay in the game instead of being taken out of the game completely. He does a really good job of racking the ball, as well.”
Manteca did not trail again after Gaeta pushed the Buffs ahead for good with a 3-pointer to make it 12-9 midway through the first quarter. They led 29-23 at halftime and opened the third quarter on an 11-3 run.
Gaeta scored Manteca’s final points of the game with a layup with 2:57 remaining, giving the Buffaloes their largest advantage at 55-34. The deep reserves took it from there.
Madhav Asija paced the Jaguars (2-5, 12-13) of Tracy with 11 points.
“Coach (Albert) Garibaldi does a great job with them, they’re always scary,” Hitt said.
His Buffaloes next head to rival Sierra on Wednesday.
Hall of Famers introduced at halftime: Joe Handy (represented by daughters Beth and Brenda), Martha Dias-Linn, Jennifer Reis, Tevani Liotard, Ken Huckaby and Don Morgan.
Junior varsity
Manteca 36, Kimball 33
The Buffaloes (4-4, 13-10) outscored Kimball 16-7 to earn the win.
Antonio Fraley scored seven of his team-high nine points in the fourth quarter. Jeremiah Orona contributed with eight points, all coming in the second half. Evan White chipped in with seven.
Freshman
Kimball 48, Manteca 38
Manteca (2-5, 10-11) had no answer for Imron Amerie, who accounted for 31 of Kimball’s points.
William Brown and Shahab Safi led the Buffaloes with eight and seven points, respectively.
