Second-year East Union boys basketball coach James Ward took over the program with multiple goals, and he accomplished one of those Wednesday night when his Lancers did something they had not done since 2013 — beat Manteca High.
After a back-and-forth first half with six lead changes and a tie, the visiting Lancers used a 22-point third quarter to bump a two-point halftime lead to 10 after the third period on the way to a 67-58 Valley Oak League win at Winter Gym.
The Lancers (3-2 VOL, 12-9 overall) snapped a 13-game losing streak against their oldest rival.
“It has been six years since we beat those guys,” coach James Ward said. “So when I took the job last year I said I was going to make East Union win again, we were going to make this game a rivalry again and we are going to make playoffs.
“We have done two out of three. Hopefully we will make playoffs this year.”
Christian Cuevas was on fire for East Union in the third quarter when he hit 10 of his 23 points, finishing the night with three 3-pointers.
“I think we are good at playing together,” Cuevas said. “And I think when we penetrate we can hit our shots or kick it out and that opens up our game a lot.”
East Union’s Lydell King (13 points) hit two from behind the arc, but he was not bashful about driving to the paint either, moving so fluidly that on one drive he faked his Buffaloes defender right off of his feet.
“I try to be aggressive,” King said. “I try to find my teammates off of my penetration.”
Parmbir Khattra (two 3-pointers) added 13 points for the Lancers and Dylan Lee nine. East Union totaled nine 3-pointers. 
“I have some players who can hit their shots,” Ward said. “We ran our offense, we executed all of our plays but the bottom line is we just played tougher than them.”
Manteca (2-2, 8-11) committed five of its 15 turnovers in the fourth quarter.
“We just have horrible turnovers,” Manteca coach Jason Hitt said. “Half of them are unforced. They zoned us all night and against zones you just don’t turn the ball over. They made their shots and we didn’t. Tip your hat to them.
“They came ready to play and our guys just made a lot of bad errors, especially down the stretch when we had non-shooters shooting 3s. It’s about bettering our IQs and playing better basketball.”
Bobby Martin led the Buffaloes with 12 points. Jordan Burciaga added 11 points, Rashawn Ballard 10 and Jake Wirstlin nine. Burciaga pulled down five rebounds in the fourth quarter.
Friday night Manteca travels to Kimball at 7 and the Lancers continue on their rivalry tour at 7:15 at Sierra. 

Junior varsity
Manteca 69, East Union 47
Isiah Roa paced the Buffaloes with 22 points and Justice Chase added 12 points.
Luke Weaver led the Lancers with 17 points.