The Shafter Generals struggled with offensive rebounds on Saturday (the Mission Oak Hawks had nine more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Shafter ended up on the wrong side of a rough 71-45 walloping at the hands of Mission Oak.
Shafter's defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Shaun Maldonado, who scored 12 points. The matchup was Maldonado's 12th in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Parker Valderrama , who scored six points along with six rebounds.
Malakai Rodriguez was his usual excellent self, going 7 for 9 from beyond the arc en route to 29 points and 2 assists for Mission Oak. Those 29 points set a new season-high mark for him. Cameron Azevedo was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with five steals.
Shafter's loss dropped their record down to 7-6. As for Mission Oak, the victory was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 6-7.
Shafter will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on Taft at 6:30 p.m. on January 4, 2024. Mission Oak and Tehachapi will round out the year against one another at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at.
