Manteca High’s boys basketball team rode the scoring of three juniors on its way to a 58-47 win over Gregori of Modesto Saturday at Winter Gym.

Second-year guard Austin Haro had the hot hand in the Buffaloes’ season opener, dropping down five 3-pointers for most of his 17 points. Guard Miguel Lopez added 14 points, nine of which keyed the team’s 17-10 third-quarter run. Six-foot-6 center Michael Hatfield contributed 12 points.

Manteca led by just one at halftime, 28-27, before Lopez helped it pull away in the second half.

The Buffaloes have a busy nonleague schedule that continues with tonight’s Foundation Game at Ripon High. They will be in the Modesto City for the remainder of the week starting on Wednesday.



Sophomore

Manteca 56, Gregori 47

Marcus Montano fired 17 points, Keyshawn Shackleford scored 11 and Amir Ebrat chipped in eight for the Buffaloes.

“As you would expect from the first game of the season, there was a little nerves and rust,” Manteca coach Bob Orr said. “The guys played pretty tough defense, but offensively we need to get some more practice under our belt.”



Manteca 55, Gregori 32

The Buffaloes raced out to a 38-18 halftime lead and got balanced scoring out of their press defense.

Francisco Lopez led the way with 12 points. Tyler Graves added 10, while Javaun Dunn, Raymond Gallardo and Angel Perez registered eight each.

“This was a solid first game,” said coach Dave Fontanilla. “Gregori was an able and well-coached team, and we were lucky to catch some early breaks in our press. This gave us the opportunity to set the pace in the second half and also allowed us to play the entire squad.”