The Ceres Bulldogs have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four contests by 27 points or more this season. They really took it to Hilmar for the full four quarters, racking up a 71-44 victory at home. That's two games straight that Ceres has won by exactly 27 points.
Ceres' success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Carey Mastin led the charge by scoring 15 points along with seven assists. Those seven assists set a new season-high mark for him. Another player making a difference was Gurman Dhaliwal, who scored ten points.
Despite the loss, Hilmar saw an underclassman step up: Aaron Solorio scored 19 points along with five rebounds. That's the first time this season that Solorio scored 15 or more points. Nick Baballe was another key contributor, scoring eight points.
Ceres has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. As for Hilmar, they bumped their record down to 2-6 with that loss, which was their fifth straight on the road dating back to last season.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Ceres will take on Escalon at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Escalon knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past six matches -- so hopefully Ceres likes a good challenge. Hilmar will be home for the holidays to greet Orestimba at 8:30 p.m. on Friday.
