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Ceres High boys struggle, no longer unbeaten
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Ceres High School's varsity boys basketball team fell from the ranks of the unbeaten last week.

After winning their first five games of the Western Athletic Conference season, the Bulldogs suffered back-to-back losses.

"As much as we struggled offensively, we still had a chance to win both games," Ceres High head coach Brian de la Porte said. "That's a good sign. I'm not worried. We'll just have to make some adjustments."

The previously-undefeated Bulldogs (5-2) dropped into second place, a half-game behind Livingston (6-2).

"We're still in position to win a league championship," de la Porte said. "We know what we have to do. We know we're capable of doing it. We have a lot of work ahead of us."

Ceres High lost 46-39 at Los Banos Friday night.

Binder Atwal scored a team-high 12 points.

Edgar Lopez, Tre Haynes and Chris Hilgen had nine, six and five points, respectively.

Bulldog leader John Dhillon was limited to just two points.

Ceres High trailed 31-22 at the end of the third period.

The Bulldogs cut the deficit to three early in the fourth quarter.

Ceres High overcame a 12-point deficit and beat Los Banos 59-53 on Jan. 12 at Phil de la Porte Gymnasium.

The Bulldogs battled back from an 11-0 deficit before losing 59-53 in overtime to Central Catholic on Wednesday in Ceres. Ceres High won the first meeting, 62-47.

Lopez tallied 27 points during the rematch. He made five 3-pointers.

Dhillon buried six treys and totaled 22 points.

Los Banos and Central Catholic both utilized zone defenses.

"We settled for outside shots and stopped attacking," de la Porte said. "You got to give them credit. They did a good job against us. They earned the victories. We'll get through this and be a better team because of it. We're not panicking. We believe good things are going to happen."

Ceres High will play host to Patterson this Friday at 7:30 p.m.