SONORA – C.J. Rivas sent home the game-winning offensive putback with seconds left on the clock Wednesday night in the foothills, as the Manteca High sophomore basketball team picked up a thrilling 40-39 win over Sonora.

Eric Hasal and Eric Godfrey both finished with 13 to lead the way.

“Jessie Smith forced a key charging call late,” Manteca head coach Jimmy Perez said. “It was the momentum-changer we needed.”

The Buffaloes (7-2  Valley Oak League, 13-4 overall) hosts Oakdale Friday.

Edy Guzman had 14 and Grant Widmer 12 as the T’Wolves knocked off the Hawks at home.

“It was an ugly win, but we’ll take it,” Sierra head coach Justin Muschott said. “We were hit hard by the flu bug this week. With several players not at 100 percent, other guys stepped up and contributed quality minutes.”

Caleb Young and Eddie Andrade both chipped in eight.

Sierra (5-3 VOL, 8-9 overall) travels to Ceres Friday.

Pau Cavil had 15 but it wouldn’t be enough as Ceres stormed out of the gate and ran away with it early.

“They came out unconscious,” Cougars head coach Eddie Menzel said. “They missed two shots the entire first half and hit eight 3-pointers. We lost our intensity after that, we got down on ourselves.”

Devante DeLeon finished with eight, and Lexus Thurman had six.

Weston Ranch (4-4 VOL, 9-9 overall) hosts Central Valley Friday.

Oakdale hit a buzzer-beater at the halftime break and East Union was once again sluggish through the third period.

Lawrence Baraan finished with 12, Teejay Gordon had nine and Daniel Ruiz eight.

“We hit that third-quarter lull again,” EU head coach Jeff Lund said. “it’s been killing us all year.”

EU (2-6 VOL, 7-11 overall) travels to Sonora Friday.

Stanley Walker had 11 for the victorious Buffaloes, and Ben O’Dell added six.

“We came out slow and were able to hang on,” Manteca head coach Dave Fontanilla said.

Manteca (6-2 VOL, 13-6 overall) hosts Oakdale Friday.

Down 15 at the break, Weston Ranch turned in on in the second half to collect the win.

Alante Lockett finished with 17, Marlon Aumentado had 14, and will Cavil put up 13.

The Cougars (5-3 VOL, 8-6 overall) hosts Central Valley Friday.

The gravy train kept chugging down the tracks for East Union Wednesday in the blowout win.

Brandon Cline led the way with 14 and Zac Carillo had 10.

Alex Del Rio turned in eight and 10 boards, and Brock Swift handed out eight assists.

EU (8-0 VOL, 15-2 overall) travels to Sonora Friday.

Tim Thornton scored nine and Austin Acker had eight for the T’Wolves at Sierra.

Sierra (2-6 VOL, 5-12 overall) heads to Ceres Friday.

The young Spartans saved their best dual performance for last, winning both matches Wednesday night to wrap their fledgling VOL campaign at 5-3. Lathrop is 7-6 overall.

Jared Weiler (103 pounds), Berry Bautista (119), Christian Pena (125), Darrien Ward (130), Mark Maynard (140), Oscar Tapia (145), Jaime Flores (160), Marcus Mertillian (171), and Dennis Johnson (189) all went 2-0.

Patric Insogna (HVY), Joey Brown (215), Matt Arguello (152) and Juan Ruedas all picked up one win Wednesday.

“It wasn’t our best wrestling by far,” Lathrop head coach Dimos Birakos said. “But it was definitely our best team effort.”

Lathrop will travel 35 wrestlers to the Pitman tournament Saturday.

Andrew Aquino (112), who lost two tough matches Wednesday, Pena and Maynard will all wrestle at the varsity level.

“I am hoping between the three of them, one will make it to Divisionals,” Birakos said.