The Manteca High boys basketball team gave its best effort but ultimately came up short on the road.
The Buffaloes were ahead 28-22 at halftime, but were outscored 21-8 in the third quarter, trailing 43-36 into the final period. But Manteca could not recover from their earlier deficit, and lost to the host Toreadores 69-54 in the first round of the CIF Northern California Regional Division III playoffs.
No. 9 Manteca finished its season at 21-12, while No. 8 Monterey improved to 24-4 and will play either No. 1 Redwood or No. 16 Santa Cruz in the second round.