Manteca was without its top post player on Monday, and visiting Tracy took full advantage.
Headed by crafty 6-foot-3 guard Lars Lindroos, the Bulldogs were able to get to the basket at will and rolled to a 69-51 win. They led by as much as 26 points in the fourth quarter before Lindroos and the rest of the starters were benched.
Lindroos poured in 28 points for Tracy (9-3) while setting up his teammates with good looks and wreaking havoc with active hands on defense. Manteca (6-7) countered with a sharpshooting Austin Barnes and his 25 points, but the Buffaloes struggled without a secondary scorer.
Mohammad Rehan Awan sprained an ankle in practice late last week, and absence of his 6-5 frame was felt in the non-league tussle.
“Not having Mohammad hurt us tonight,” Manteca coach Geoff Israel said. “He averages about 15 (points) a game, it’s hard (for opponents) to attack the paint when Mohammad’s in there — he’s just a big body. He gets his hands up, doesn’t commit a lot of fouls and then gets the rebounds.”
Tracy was also without a key player in senior point guard Maximillian Russell, the team’s leading scorer on the season. He is also out with an ankle injury.
With him not there to set the pace, the Bulldogs were slow to start and found themselves down 12-9 late in the first quarter. They ended the period on a 10-2 run, then allowed just two points in the final 6 minutes of the second to take a 35-24 halftime lead.
The dry spell continued in the second half for the Buffaloes, as they were held without point for the first 3 minutes, 51 seconds wile Tracy scored 10 unanswered.
“We really turned it up defensively,” Tracy coach Junior Cueva said “We’ve been without our best player, so we’ve been starting the last couple games a little bit slow. But in the last two or three weeks, Lars has been killing it, man. We have a great backcourt and a lot of depth there, so I think with us playing fast with our speed kind of helped us in the end.”
Aiden Guzman complemented Lindroos with 14 points.
After a scoreless first quarter, Barnes came alive in the second, hitting two 3s and accounting for eight of his team’s 10 points in the frame. He hit five 3s in total.
“It’s one of his better games,” Israel said. “When we went up against Rocklin, he scored 27 against one of the defending (Sac-Joaquin) section champions. He’s been having those games.”
Manteca will have more than a week to heal up before its next game, a Valley Oak League opener on Jan. 5 at defending co-champion Central Catholic.
De La Salle 72, River Islands 29
The Riptide (4-7) ventured to Concord to face one of the top teams from the North Coast Section.
De La Salle (9-1) went on a 20-1 run in the second quarter and didn’t look back. Charles Mapanao paced River Islands with nine points, including two 3s.
“Just a really good program,” River Islands coach Justin Graham said. “I’m really proud of the way the guys competed for 32 minutes. We were a little undersized compared to them, but we played hard and it was noticeable. That was encouraging to see.”
Junior varsity girls
East Union 36, West 32
Kayla Jackson spearheaded a balanced scoring effort for the Lancers (8-4) at West, finishing with seven points.
Elle Baluyut, Camille Christensen and Lola Alvarez each pitched in six.
