The Manteca Buffaloes won the last time they faced the Kimball Jaguars, and things went their way on Friday too. Manteca came out on top against Kimball by a score of 54-45. Given Manteca's advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 234th, while Kimball is ranked 551st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Manteca was led to victory by Peyton Nieman and Evani Gaeta. Nieman dropped a double-double on 18 points and ten rebounds, while Gaeta scored 17 points along with seven rebounds and four steals. That's the first time this season that Nieman pulled down eight or more rebounds. Another player making a difference was Santiago Sanders, who scored six points along with six rebounds.
Despite the defeat, Kimball had strong showings from Madhav Asija, who scored 16 points, and Osama Mirghani, who scored eight points along with six rebounds and two blocks. The team also got some help courtesy of Tobe Nwankwo, who scored six points.
The win makes it two in a row for Manteca and bumps their season record up to 13-7. As for Kimball, their defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 11-10.
Manteca will take on Central Catholic at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Hopefully Central Catholic focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up six on Friday. As for Kimball, they will head out on the road to take on Oakdale at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Oakdale is out to stop a four-game streak of losses at home.
