The Manteca Buffaloes suffered their closest loss yet this season on Wednesday. They fell just short of Central Catholic by a score of 47-45. Manteca has struggled against Central Catholic recently, as their contest on Wednesday was their third consecutive lost matchup.
Manteca's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Peyton Nieman, who scored 14 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Santiago Sanders, who scored six points.
Central Catholic had a senior duo take command as Tyler Wentworth scored 26 points along with six rebounds and Wesley Payne scored 13 points along with nine rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Wentworth has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Jordan Magana, who scored four points.
Manteca's defeat dropped their record down to 13-8. As for Central Catholic, the victory was the sixth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 14-5.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Manteca will take on Oakdale at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Oakdale will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps California Rankings (they are ranked 776th, while Manteca is ranked 261st). As for Central Catholic, they will be playing at home against Kimball at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Kimball is hoping to put an end to a three-game streak of away losses.
