The Los Banos Tigers boys varsity basketball team (11–6 overall, 0–4 in the Central California Conference) lost both its CCC games last week and remains winless in the conference play in the 2025 season.
On Jan. 22, the Tigers traveled to Merced and dropped a 66–61 decision to the Golden Valley Cougars. On Jan. 24, the Tigers visited Atwater, where the Buhach Colony Thunder defeated them by 65–55.
As in the past two conference games, the Tigers could not handle the high-pressure press defenses of the Cougars and Thunder, resulting in a high number of fouls (32 in both games). Compared to Los Banos’ 11 points, its opponents scored 27 points from the free throw line.
Eric Ramos paced the Tigers’ offense with 32 points (16 in each game), while Yahir Zuniga added 19 points and 22 rebounds in an all-around game effort. Jack Goodger (17 points, 20 rebounds) also had a fine pair of games.
Once again, the low percentage 3-point floor shooting and poor offensive rebounding cost the Tigers in these two games.
In the Buhach Colony game, Los Banos had no for the 6 feet 6 inches tall Jordan Cortez (30 points, 12 rebounds) and the 6 feet 3 inches tall guard Carter Chapman (12 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists) as their speed and height controlled the contest all game long.
In junior varsity action, the Tigers split its pair games with the Cougars and Thunder, with a single point deciding both games.
The Cougars defeated the Tigers by 55–54 but then returned to beat the Thunder 60–59 in overtime.
Tigers freshman Colton Kocher had two outstanding games for the Tigers (36 points, 20 rebounds), followed by Moises Perez (27 points, 19 rebounds) in the two games.
Jonathan Snapp (10 points, 19 rebounds) was a major force for Los Banos despite fouling out in the Buhach game.
In the Buhach game, the two teams exchanged the lead several times, with the Tigers holding a 40–35 lead going into the fourth quarter. Buhach outscored Los Banos 15–8 to take a 2-point lead with 6 seconds left in regulation.
However, Perez, the Tigers’ guard, nailed a 2-point basket as the buzzer sounded to force the game into overtime.
In the extra period, Kocher came up big with 8 points, and Perez added a basket to give the Tigers a 1-point lead with 14 seconds left in the game.
Jaxon Mancebo sealed the victory for the Tigers when he intercepted a Thunder in-bounds pass. Los Banos ran out the clock for a 60–59 victory. The Tigers freshman squad lost both its games to the Cougars (49–40) and the Bears (47–40).
Damien Osegueda (26 points, 9 rebounds) paced the Los Banos offense in both games, followed by Elijah Chiappetta (13 points, 19 rebounds), Zaevin Cancino (8 points, 25 rebounds) and Maggio Carter (4 points, 14 rebounds).
All three Tigers teams return to the court this week with games against the El Capitan Gauchos and the Atwater Falcons.
