Ceres High's varsity boys basketball team finished in second place at the Godinez Tournament this past week.

The Bulldogs had a combined record of 1-5 at the Turlock event the previous two seasons.

"We're a more mature team now," head coach Julio Marquez said. "We have a good mix of seniors and juniors."

Ceres High lost 92-88 to West in the finals Saturday night.

"We made some adjustments from the last time we played them," Marquez said. "They beat us 86-42 a week prior at the Stagg tournament."

Inder Sandhu led the Bulldogs in scoring with 32 points.

Haaydn Martinez and Donnavin Koeurn tallied 19 and 12 points, respectively.

Cristian Garcia and Ismael Ontiveros both contributed 10 points.
Gurraj Purewal and Nick Jones had three and two points, respectively.

"We handled their press a lot better and didn't have as many turnovers this time," Marquez said.

Ceres High showed a lot of heart in rallying from a 15-point deficit during the second half.

The Bulldogs outscored the Wolfpack 29-23 in the final period.

"It was a physical game," Marquez said. "We just couldn't pull it out."

Ceres High topped Kimball 77-50 in the semifinals on Friday.

The Bulldogs outscored the Jaguars 26-10 in the first quarter.

Sandhu (13) and Martinez (11) combined for 24 points in the opening period.

Haaydn made all five of his free throws.

Inder converted six of seven foul shots.

"They're more than just shooters," Marquez said. "They're scorers."

Sandhu totaled a game-high 26 points against Kimball.

Martinez added 16 points.

Garcia and Jones both scored 10 points.

Purewal had nine points.

Ceres High outlasted host Turlock 42-40 in the opening round on Thursday.

"It was a really competitive game," Marquez said. "They had a 3-pointer go in and out at the end."

Martinez netted a team-high 10 points.

Garcia had eight points.

Sandhu and Ontiveros finished with seven points apiece.

Koeurn and Jones added four and three points, respectively.

Ceres High outscored Turlock 18-7 in the first quarter.

"We played some good, solid defense," Marquez said.

Sandhu took home the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award.

Inder averaged 21.7 points per game.

Martinez (15.0 ppg) earned all-tourney honors.

"Those two guys are going to be our scoring threats this year," Marquez said.

Ceres High moved to 3-4 on the year.

"We've been shooting the ball really well," Marquez said. "The intensity level has picked up."

The Bulldogs will host a four-team, round-robin tournament this week.

Ceres High will play Calaveras tomorrow (8 p.m.), Able Charter on Friday (8 p.m.) and Delhi (3:30 p.m.) on Saturday.

"We still got room to improve," Marquez said.