Ceres High School's varsity boys basketball team kept its slim playoff hopes alive with a 65-37 win over Pacheco in front of a big homecoming crowd Friday night at Phil de la Porte Gymnasium.

The fourth-place Bulldogs improved to 11-10 overall and 3-4 in the Western Athletic Conference standings.

The top three teams in the WAC advance to the postseason.

Central Catholic (9-0), Patterson (6-2) and Central Valley (5-2) have the inside track for playoff berths.

"We still have a chance," Ceres High head coach Julio Marquez said. "But we have to win out and get help. It's going to be difficult."

Joshneil Sandhu drained four treys while scoring a team-high 12 points.

Puneet Sahi, Abel Reyes, Harman Chung, Jimmy Bates and Sahil Soni collected 10, nine, eight, six and five points, respectively.

Junior Garcia and Nick Burt contributed four points each.

Ceres High made 10 of 14 field en route to building a 19-10 lead in the first quarter against Pacheco. The Panthers buried 2 of 12 shots from the floor and three of six foul shots.

The Bulldogs' starting lineup featured Bates, Burt, Stiles, Junior Garcia and Angel Garcia.

"I didn't know how we'd respond offensively," Marquez said. "There was some good ball movement. We had a lot of assists. Our guys did an excellent job playing team defense."

The Panthers cut the deficit to 32-25 in the second quarter.

Ceres High outscored Pacheco 33-12 after intermission.

"It was a great team win," Marquez said. "Everybody contributed. We ran our offense pretty well."

The Bulldogs will play host to Livingston today and at Central Catholic on Friday. Tipoff for both games slated for 7:30 p.m.