El Capitan boys to make playoff debut on road

With his team gathered around in the El Capitan High cafeteria to watch the Sac-Joaquin Section Online Selection Show, coach Chris Tufts hoped for the best.

His Gauchos boys basketball team won the Western Athletic Conference title, but in a down season. And despite his attempt to boost El Capitan’s strength of schedule, a number of teams it beat in tournaments didn’t have good seasons.

So while Tufts held out hope that the Gauchos might earn a first-round home game, he wasn’t terribly shocked when El Capitan received a 14 seed in a loaded Division III bracket. El Capitan will make its playoff debut at No. 3 Manteca on Wednesday, with the tip-off set for 7 p.m.

“I was hoping we might have a home game with winning league,” said Tufts, whose team finished the regular season 21-6 overall. “We knew the league’s strength wasn’t very well respected. I tried to balance out our strength of schedule, but some of the tournaments we went to just didn’t work out.

“Looking at the MaxPreps rankings, we figured we probably weren’t going much higher than 12. It seems like they stuck to that pretty well and so getting a 14 wasn’t surprising. I think the kids were also hoping to have a home game, but they got over that pretty quickly and seemed to be getting excited about Manteca.”

The Buffaloes (22-5) finished second in a very competitive Valley Oak League that produced the top seeds in D-II (Weston Ranch) and D-IV (Central Catholic).

Manteca boasts a frontcourt that most small colleges don’t enjoy, with a trio of big men (Anand Hundal, Kenny Wooten Jr. and Tydus Verhoeven) that are at least 6-foot-8. They combine to average 37.8 points per game and 25.6 rebounds per game.

“I don’t know anything about them,” Tufts said. “As soon as the game was announced, I started looking up their schedule to see who I could get film on them from.

“We got after it pretty good in practice today, but it was a little unfocused. I think now that we have an opponent, a date and a location we can refocus and really get ready for them.”

El Capitan is one of four local boys teams that are in the playoffs. They’ll be joined by Buhach Colony, Mariposa and Delhi.

The Thunder (11-16) got the 17 seed and will travel to No. 16 Vacaville (10-16) in a Division II outbracket game tonight. The Grizzlies (21-4) received the highest seed of everyone, getting No. 4 in Division V. They will host No. 5 Ripon Christian (18-7) on Wednesday. Delhi (7-17) is the 16 in Division IV and will take on No. 1 Central Catholic (21-5) on Wednesday. All tip-offs are set for 7 p.m..

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 6:13 PM with the headline "El Capitan boys to make playoff debut on road."