The Mission Oak Hawks pushed their score all the way to 55 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 65-55 hit to the loss column at the hands of Tulare Western. Mission Oak has not had much luck with Tulare Western recently, as the team's come up short the last seven times they've met.
Mission Oak lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Daniel Gonzalez, who scored ten points along with five assists and three steals. Another player making a difference was Joaquin Torrez, who scored 14 points along with two steals.
Malachi Ficher was his usual excellent self, almost dropping a double-double on 28 points and nine rebounds for Tulare Western. That makes it three consecutive games in which Ficher has scored at least a third of Tulare Western's points. Kaine Garcia was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with seven rebounds.
Mission Oak has been struggling recently as they've lost five of their last six matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 11-13 record this season. As for Tulare Western, the victory got them back to even at 12-12.
Mission Oak won't have much time to rest: their next match is against Fowler at 2:30 p.m. on January 27th. Fowler is coming into the contest with six straight wins on the road, so Mission Oak is out to stop a team with plenty of momentum. As for Tulare Western, they will face off against Dinuba at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Dinuba will roll in looking for their ninth straight win, something Tulare Western surely won't give up without a fight.
