The struggles continue for Orestimba High boys’ basketball team after the team lost at home to Hughson High 82-44 for its 12th consecutive loss on Friday.
The Warriors fell to 6-20 overall and remained winless in Trans-Valley League at 0-10, while the Huskies improved to 13-14 and 6-5 against league opponents to remain in fourth place in the TVL standings.
Four players scored in double digits for Hughson with Wyatt Porter leading with 17 points. Following him were James Seay, Riley Clark and Titus Beers who all combined for 42 points. Rudy Corona led Orestimba in scoring with 21 points, including four 3-pointers.
While the Huskies netted three 3-pointers to the Orestimba’s six, they found success in scoring from the midrange and inside the paint as 66 points were accounted for inside the arc. Additionally, Hughson found its rhythm offensively through distributing the ball with 21 assists to the Warriors’ nine
Orestimba head coach Donald Dudley said turnovers were one of the difference makers as Huskies’ physicality resulted in 33 Warriors’ turnovers.
“There [were] just too many moments where they caused us turnovers and we just had possessions where we didn’t score,” Dudley said. “We didn’t score because we just had some turnovers.”
Entering the second quarter with an 8-point lead, Hughson outscored Orestimba 31-10 in the period, with a combined 19 points from Porter and Seay as both players took advantage of the Warriors’ lack of size in the paint to give the Huskies a 49-16 lead at halftime.
The second half was more or less the same as Hughson kept on forcing turnovers and scoring off Orestimba's mistakes, outscoring the Warriors 33-28 in the half.
While his first season at the helm of the program hasn’t gone in the direction he’d hoped for, it’s offered Dudley an insight of what to improve upon for next season.
“The big takeaway for me this year is at the end of season, I’m going to sit down with my coaching staff and we’re gonna be like, ‘Okay, what did we like? What do we not like?,’” he said. “It’s something you got to be honest with, right? Because every year there’s good and there’s bad, and every year you got to grow.”
Orestimba will host Ripon Christian High (16-10) (9-1 TVL) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. for its final home game of the season. In its previous matchup against Ripon Christian on Jan. 22, the Warriors lost on the road, 81-39.
