The 5-foot-10 junior guard picked a good time to have a breakout performance.

One night after the Buffaloes took a tough loss to Central Catholic, they hosted first-place Weston Ranch in a Valley Oak League make-up game on Saturday. Lyons powered the 84-77 upset over the Cougars, who had previously beaten Manteca in the Modesto Christian Holiday Hoop Classic consolation final. He amassed a career-high 37 points to go with 12 rebounds.

“He has consistently stayed around 8-12 points all year for us, so for him to come up with

37 and 12 is a surprise,” Manteca coach Jason Hitt said. “I talked with a lot of Manteca alums who say that’s one of the best performance they’ve seen from a player here. Usually, it’s someone who averages 20 or more who does something like that, but with our team we’re really balanced. What I’m most happy about is the rebounds. His goal all year was to get at least 10, and get to add the 12 boards to the 37 points.”

Lyons spearheaded a fast start for Manteca, which led 20-7 after the opening period. He scored nine himself, and had 18 by halftime. His big night was capped by an 18-point fourth quarter. Lyons drained three 3-pointers and was 6-for-9 from the free-throw line.

The win had Manteca (4-1 VOL, 12-8 overall) in what was a four-way tie for the lead atop the VOL.