Forty years ago, on December 30, 1975, leading from the opening basket, Manteca High raced to an easy 75-52 victory over Ripon Christian High, and with it, the championship of the sixth annual Linden Holiday Basketball Tournament. The Buffaloes became the first school to win the tourney a second time. The local school won the very first event in Linden, back in 1970. The Pat Douglass-coached Buffs were led by Dale Delmanowski who was later named the tournament’s most valuable player. He dominated the action against a young Ripon Christian quintet. Playing just over three quarters, “Delmo” canned 18 points and was all over the court on defense. Teammates Ron Tilton and Don Joseph added 17 and 12 points, respectively, to the winning total.

In other sport s stories from the Bulletin files:

40 years ago: December 31, 1975 – In the battle for third place in the Linden Holiday Basketball Tournament, Chowchilla High thumped East Union High 74-56. Ron Hamamoto scored 17 points and James Peerson had 12 points for the Lancers of Coach Carl Bosque.

With defense playing a key role, the Manteca High soccer team remained undefeated in Mid-Valley League action with a 3-0 victory over Davis High of Modesto last week. Jon Steele scored twice and Dan Gwinnup, once, for the Buffaloes.

30 years ago: January 3, 1986 – Manteca High’s Robert McGhee swept to first place in the 114-pound division and Brian Briggs took third in the 121’s at the Reno Invitational Wrestling Tournament this weekend. The two-day tournament drew teams from all over the Western states.

The Manteca High girls’ cagers hampered themselves with poor shooting and lost to Tokay High 49-34 in a non-league game in Lodi Friday night. Manteca was paced by Lissa Dixon, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

East Union High defeated Lodi High 54-37 for their fifth straight win as the Lancers wound up the Lodi-Tokay round-robin basketball tournament with a 3-0 mark. Gary Kron led EU with 22 points.

Andy Hulsebosch and Kevin Frisk combined to score 17 points in the fourth quarter to pull out a 62-54 win over Tracy High Monday night in Tracy. Frisk had 22 points in the game while Hulsebosch added 18.

20 years ago: December 30, 1995 – East Union High advanced to the fifth-place contest in the Tracy Breakfast Lions Basketball Tournament Friday night with a defensive-minded 36-30 win over Sebastopol-Analy High in the West High gym. Coach Mark Liles’ Lady Lancers held Analy to just two points in the second quarter. EU’s Jessie Hardcastle led all scorers with 14 points.

Manteca High finally pulled away from Los Banos High in the second half to win 47-41 in a VOL girls’ basketball opener last night. Coach Martha Dias’ Lady Buffs got a game-leading 13 points from Mollie DeRoos.

Sierra High was beaten 50-25 by Modesto’s Beyer High in second round play of the Tracy Tournament. Coach Dan Cunial’s Lady Timberwolves stayed close to Beyer in the first half with good defense, but then began turning the ball over, giving the Lady Patriots control of the game. Christi Goodhart scored seven points—all at the free throw line—to pace Sierra, now 1-7 on the season.

The East Union High boys’ basketball team jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter Friday and went on to beat Concord’s Ignacio Valley High 57-36 at the Alhambra Tournament in Martinez. Shane Lewis used his speed to slice inside for a team-leading 16 points. Geoff Israel scored 12 and Ryan Tarr came off the bench to score 10 more for EU.

Manteca High opened VOL cage play with a 72-60 win over Los Banos High Tuesday night at Winter Gym. Buffalo center Bryan Lucas was a terror inside with 32 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard James Ward pumped in 18 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Coach Mike Henry’s Buffs are now 5-8 on the season.

Oakdale High won 12 of 14 matches—including seven by pins—en route to a 65-9 wrestling rout of visiting East Union High on Tuesday night. The only Lancer pin was by 160-pound Josh York in the first round of his match.

Sonora High picked up the pace in the second and third quarters to put away an upstart Sierra High 72-49 in a VOL opener on Tuesday at the Sierra gym. John Thomson led the senior-less T’wolves with 13 points.

10 years ago: January 5, 2006 – East Union High opened its Valley Oak League boys’ basketball schedule on Wednesday with a 65-59 win over Weston Ranch High. Steffen Spinks, a 6-1 Lancer senior, scored a game-high 30 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had six assists. Jordan McDaniel added 18 point s to the winning total, while going 4-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc.

The East Union High girls started VOL basketball play with a thrilling 42-41 win over the visiting Weston Ranch High girls yesterday in Dalben Center. EU’s Christin Gowan earned high-point honors with 17 points.

Michael Elder had 16 points and 20 rebounds as the Sierra High boys’ basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 46-37 win over Mt. Pleasant High at the Columbia Memorial Holiday Classic. It was the second time this season that Elder has grabbed 20 rebounds in a game.