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Cougars drop season opener to McNair
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STOCKTON – The Weston Ranch Cougars had a strong sense of how they wanted their season to get underway, but the McNair Eagles had a different agenda beating the Cougars 54-50 in both teams’ season opener.

Weston Ranch made the short drive to north Stockton and ran into a determined McNair High squad that fought off a one-point halftime deficit and outscored the Cougars over the final two periods of play for the four-point win.

The Cougars, who have been a main-stay amongst the leaders in the Valley Oak League, ran into some difficulties in their first action of the newborn season.

“We didn’t play well fundamentally tonight,” Weston Ranch head coach Ryan Bono said. “We had 28 turnovers for the game and as a coach I have to take some of the responsibility. We’re going to have to go to more basic stuff in practice and make sure we can handle the little things so we can be successful.”

Weston Ranch was led by Nate Moises who turned in a team-high 13 points, while teammate Ronnie Collins chipped in a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.

The Cougars will look to work out all of their kinks before taking the court Monday against Stagg for a home Foundation Game.

“We’ll be tested in the next few games,” Bono said. “We’re going to go back tomorrow and have practice and try and fix some of the things that we’re going to have to get right.”

Sophomore
McNair 43, Weston Ranch 41
STOCKTON – Weston Ranch got a dose a bad luck as it dropped its season opener on a last-second basket by the Eagles.

Dylan Alexander had a huge game for the Cougars, opening the season with a game-high 27 points to pace Weston Ranch. Teammate Demetrius Kelley chipped in eight in the loss.

GIRLS
Johansen 52, Lathrop 34
LATHROP — The Spartans opened their season against a tough Johansen High team, dropping the season opener by 18 points.

Britney Rallios paced the squad with a game-high 12 points and teammate Jasmine Elder closed out the contest with 10 points as the only two Lathrop High players to reach double-digits. Lathrop walked into halftime trailing 24-13, but held its own over the second half getting outscored by just seven points.

“Johansen was a more experienced team and we had trouble dealing with their height,” Lathrop head coach Ed Fang said. “We gave them all we could, we just were unable to rebound against them with that height.

“I’m proud of the girls, they never gave up and stayed in the game.”

The Spartans will look to get things going in the right direction as they prepare for a Dec. 2 home opener against Consumnes Oak High.