Basketball Recap: Alan De Lara Leads a Balanced Attack to Beat Oroville

It was a proper cat-fight when Corning took on Oroville on Tuesday. The Corning Cardinals walked away with a 53-42 win over the Oroville Tigers. That result was just more of the same for these two, as the Cardinals also won the last time the pair played back in January of 2024.

Corning got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Alan De Lara out in front who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 14 boards. Those 14 rebounds gave De Lara a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Ivan Jones, who went 6 of 8 en route to 13 points.

Despite the loss, Oroville saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Kevin Taylor posted 16 points along with eight boards and five steals. Taylor is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed three or more in the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Rashawn Bland, who earned ten points.

Corning is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-9 record this season. As for Oroville, they have also been struggling recently as they've lost five of their last six matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-11 record this season.

Corning will look to defend their home court on Friday against Gridley at 7:30 p.m. Gridley knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past three games -- so hopefully Corning likes a good challenge. As for Oroville, they will head out on the road to face off against Orland at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Orland has seven straight wins, Oroville has three straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.