Ceres High’s boys basketball team compiled a 2-2 record while playing four times in a six-day span this past week.

“It was a grind,” head coach T.J. Walker Jr. said. 

The Bulldogs edged the host Pacheco Panthers 50-45 in a makeup game on Saturday.

The contest was rescheduled due to COVID protocols.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well,” Walker said. “We left a lot of points on the table. We won because we got more stops on defense.”

Fourth-place Ceres High improved to 14-9 overall and 7-3 in the Western Athletic Conference standings.

The Bulldogs are vying for a postseason berth.

The WAC will send three teams to the playoffs.

“It’s a very, wide-open league,” Walker said. “We can all beat each other. We can compete with anybody in this area. But you have to perform every night.”

Ceres High’s Lebron Stallworth tallied 16 points and pulled down six rebounds against Pacheco.

Adrian Ontiveros added 15 points.

Ceres High topped visiting Pacheco 53-38 on Friday at Phil de la Porte Gymnasium.

Verlis Smith scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds.

Ontiveros collected 13 points.

Stallworth had 12 points and seven rebounds.

Ceres High sustained a 57-33 loss at Beyer on Wednesday.

“They got talent over there,” Walker said.

The Patriots are coached by Kyle McKim and Brian de la Porte.

McKim previously coached lower-level boys basketball at Central Valley High School.

Walker was an assistant on de la Porte’s staff when he coached Ceres High’s boys hoops squad.

“We’re all alike,” Walker said. “We’re very competitive.”

Smith and Fernando Franco both had seven points and four rebounds.

Beyer pulled away during the second half.

“It got away from us in the third quarter,” Walker said. “We didn’t play with a lot of confidence. That hurt us offensively and defensively.”

Ceres High lost 64-53 at Lathrop on Jan. 24.

“We just didn’t finish the opportunities that were in front of us,” Walker said.

Boys' Hawks suffer losses

Central Valley’s boys basketball team dropped four straight games for the second time this season.

“We compete,” head coach Mike Rodriguez said. “We’re just struggling to put a complete game together.”

Central Valley lost 68-48 to Merced on Friday in Ceres.

“They got hot,” Rodriguez said. “They hit three 3s to start the second half. That changed the momentum quite a bit.”

Jordan Powers tallied a team-high 14 points.

Gage Mastropierro collected 12 points.

Jeremy Alvarez chipped in with nine points.

The Hawks led by four points, 29-25, at intermission.

“Our defense was pretty solid,” Rodriguez aid. “We got the ball inside on offense. We controlled the tempo.”

Central Valley struggled to keep pace with Merced during the second half.

The Hawks lost 72-51 to the Atwater Falcons on Jan. 24 in Ceres.

“We just got off to a slow start,” Rodriguez said. “We had too many turnovers. We could have rebounded better.”

Mastropierro poured in a game-high 23 points.

Powers added 14 points.

Yoshi Kumar had 12 points.

The Hawks fell to 8-12 overall and 0-4 in the CCC standings.

Central Valley posted an 0-11 record and lost all 10 of its league games last season.

“It’s an improvement from last year,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously, we’d like to have a couple more wins. It’s going to take a complete effort from start to finish.”

The Hawks will play five times this week.

“It’s going to be tough,” Rodriguez said. “We’re going to have to use everybody. We’ll see what happens.”

Dawgs drop to fifth

The Ceres High girls basketball team’s playoff hopes took a major hit this past week.

The Bulldogs (7-16, 4-6) dropped from second to fifth in the Western Athletic Conference standings thanks to a four-game skid.

“We didn’t play very good basketball,” head coach Michael Estrada Jr. said. “It’s tough mentally and physically playing four games in one week.”

Ceres High suffered a 63-18 loss at Los Banos on Saturday.

“We were down two girls for work and quarantine,” Estrada said. “We weren’t at full-strength.”

Ceres High lost 56-49 in overtime at Pacheco on Thursday.

Celeste Leon paced the Bulldogs with 23 points.

Mia Rodriguez totaled 16 points.

Citlali Miranda had six points.

Jaleen Melendez had three points.

Carmen Espinoza had one point.

Ceres High lost 40-27 to Beyer on Jan. 25 at Phil de la Porte Gymnasium.

Leon collected 13 points.

Rodriguez added nine points.

Sandra Espinoza had five points.

Carmen Espinoza had two points.

Host Ceres High lost 56-36 to Lathrop on Jan. 24.

Leon tallied 15 points.

Sandra Espinoza had eight points.

Rodriguez had six points.

Alayna De La Torre had three points.

Miranda had two points.

The Bulldogs played four games in a six-day span last week.

“We were making simple mistakes on offense and defense,” said Estrada Jr. “I didn’t have time to fix that stuff because we only got to practice once during the week.”

Ceres High has four conference games left on its schedule.

The top three teams qualify for the playoffs at the end of the regular season.

A fourth team could receive postseason consideration.

The Bulldogs will play host to the Los Banos Tigers on Thursday.

The game will begin at 7:30 p.m.

“We want to finish the season the right way,” Estrada Jr. said. “I’m trying to keep everyone hopeful. We can still go to playoffs. We have to win games and get help from other teams. I just don’t like being in that position.”