The 2026 Central California Conference (CCC) basketball season concluded this past Friday, and all three Los Banos Tiger teams finished their years with victories.
The freshman Tigers (6-4 CCC) finished their 2026 season with victories over the Buhach Colony Thunder (59-37), and the young Tigers handed the El Capitan Gauchos a 51-37 defeat to complete a 6-4 CCC league record, under the tutelage of Matthew Bowman and Stephen Camarillo.
On Wednesday in Atwater, the frosh Tigers used a balanced offensive attack to defeat the Thunder. Jax Jorge (9 points, 1 rebound) paced the Los Banos offense, followed by Max Mederios (8 points, 1 rebound, as he just returned from knee surgery), Adrian De La Cruz (7 points, 1 rebound), Fabian Estrada (7 points, 5 rebounds), Braden Silva (6 points, 6 rebounds) Giovanni Riveria-Oates (6 points, 1 rebound), Andrew Loretto (6 points, 6 rebounds) and Grayson Houtekamer (4 points, 5 rebounds) accounted for their 59 points.
Then on Friday the Tigers used a game led by Houtekamer (19 points, 12 rebounds) to win their sixth CCC league victory over the Gauchos. Jorge (9 points, 2 rebounds), Riviera-Oates (7 points, 4 rebounds), Emiliano Chavez (7 points, 9 rebounds) and De La Cruz (5 points, 3 rebounds) all contributed to the Los Banos win.
In junior varsity action, the Tigers (2-8 CCC) split their two games last week, dropping a one-point decision to the Thunder, 50-49 on Wednesday, but they came back on Friday to defeat the Gauchos by the score of 52-51 with the winning basket by Jacob Castro at the buzzer to end the game.
On Wednesdaty Maggio Carter (13 points, 7 rebounds) paced the Tiger offense against Buhach, followed by Zaevin Cancino (11 points, 7 rebounds), Castro (10 points, 2 rebounds), Jaxon Mancebo (7 points, 2 rebounds) and Issac Garza (5 points, 1 rebound).
On Friday Cancino (13 points) paced the offense, followed by Garza (12 points), Castro (10 points), Mancebo (6 points) and Carter (4 points) completed the 52 points for the locals.
Finally in varsity action, after dropping a 47-42 decision to the Buhach Colony Thunder on Wednesday, the Tigers (11-14 overall, 2-8 CCC) came back with a thrilling one-point victory over the El Capitan Gauchos by the score of 71-70.
Eric Ramos paced the Los Banos offense, totaling 39 points in the two games, followed by Jacob Camarillo (37 points in the two games), and Jayden Howard (14 points) accounted for the scoring in the two contests.
The Tigers could not account for the Thunder’s height advantage, with Carter Chapman (15 rebounds) and Jayden Harvey’s athleticism (18 points) leading Buhach Colony to the victory.
However, against the Gauchos, Senior guard Eric Ramos used his speed and dribbling to drive to the basket, scoring 10 points on layups and adding 12 points from the free throw line, for a total of 22 points.
