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Central Catholic pulls away from Manteca to earn outright VOL title
Manteca-Central Catholic boys basketball
Manteca’s Santiago Sanders shoots over Central Catholic’s Mana Itete (32) and Wesley Payne (14). - photo by SEAN KAHLER

MODESTO — Visiting Manteca knocked on the door multiple times in the fourth quarter Wednesday night but could not quite seal the deal with the Valley Oak League boys basketball championship on the line, as Central Catholic pulled away at the end for a 57-51 win and the outright title at the Mark Gallo Health and Fitness Center.

“We gave up a 19-point first quarter and an 18-point fourth quarter,” Buffaloes coach Jason Hitt said. “You can’t do that against those guys. It was a one-possession game, and (Tyler) Wentworth got a rebound on the weak side because we weren’t blocking him out at all. You can’t make those mistakes against section-playoff caliber teams. Hopefully we will learn from this and do our job in the playoffs.

“We had two bad turnovers in the final minute and like I said, the weak-side rebounding by Wentworth killed us. They did their job – a bunch of their role players made shots for them. No. 5 (James McGee) and (Brendan) Carter both made shots for them when they had to. We left them open to help out on their bigs and they made the shots.”

The Raiders (10-0 VOL, 23-5 overall) used a balanced attack with four players in double figures. Jordan Magana led Central Catholic with 16 points followed by Wesley Payne with 11 and 10 apiece for Wentworth and McGee.

Manteca’s Peyton Nieman led all scorers with 21 points, scoring nine in the fourth quarter to keep the Buffaloes (8-2, 19-9) in the game. Nieman buried four from behind the arc.

“They are a good team and they are always going to come back,” Raiders coach Mike Wilson said. “We were ready for that.”

Evani Gaeta scored seven of his 12 points for Manteca in the fourth quarter and L.J. Legan added nine points behind three 3-pointers.

Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs begin next week with the pairings to be announced on Saturday. 

 

Junior varsity

Central Catholic 40, Manteca 36

Trailing by 10 points at halftime, the Buffaloes battled back to tie the game late but the Raiders pulled out the win.

Antonio Fraley led Manteca with 16 points with Madden Melendez chipping in eight points.