There is just something special about winning on senior night.

So, despite a long and hard season, the Woodland High School boys basketball team put on a show one last time in front of the home fans as they gleefully celebrated senior night in style thanks to a 65-46 win over Golden Empire League rivals El Camino Thursday night.

“It was a great win,” Wolves head coach Jay Munoz said. “Getting to five league wins is huge for us. We knew six would be the mark to get into playoffs, and we realized we prob wouldn’t get six sometime last week. The boys still wanted to reach the five-win mark, and it was senior night. On top of that, we had a program-wide sweep Thursday night.”

The Wolves (8-14, 5-7 GEL) came into the game in fifth place, having just beat rivals Rio Linda 61-58 this past Tuesday. Before that, however, they endured three straight losses to Natomas, Casa Roble, and Sutter before a razor-thin 69-68 road overtime win over the very same El Camino on Jan. 24.

Other GEL wins this year include the game right before the Jan. 24 clash with El Camino when they took down Rio Linda on Jan. 21 by the score of 64-52 and a 62-51 win over Dixon on Jan. 7.

“It was a really good season,” Munoz said. “A lot of our keys guys helped us. We were down a lot of players during the nonleague portion of our schedule, but once we got everyone together, I think we reached our potential. The league is never easy, so I’m pretty positive going into next year because we bring back nine guys on varsity.”

Before the game began, the Wolves honored the team’s three departing seniors, including Joseph Quezada, Joseph Cadotte and Caleb Suto.

“They have been huge for us this year,” Munoz said. “Having a senior core that you can rely on to play big-time games and big-time moments is something we have lacked the past few years. They have also been key to the development of the other guys. They come in and go to work every single day. They are all a great group of kids that we will miss, but we are super excited for the future.”

Woodland clung to a 12-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

After a Quezada free throw that made it 13-11, the Wolves went on an offensive run that included a 3-pointer from Miles Eoff, back-to-back baskets from big man Lincoln Twilley, and back-to-back 3-point splashes from freshman Freddy Heidrick and Cadotte, making it 29-18.

One more Cadotte 3-pointer right before the half made it 32-23.

“Cadotte was great tonight,” Munoz said. “Those deep threes that she shoots, I wouldn’t say that we practice those, but his confidence is through the roof right now, so it’s not always a bad shot. He has done a great job of maturing this year, knowing when to take those shots or when to pull it down and pass or go to the hoop. After being a starter for us last year, he accepted a role off the bench, embraced it, and took advantage of all his opportunities.”

Back-to-back baskets from Twilley, followed by a Cadotte layup, kicked off the third quarter and gave the Wolves a 38-30 lead. They’d then mount a 10-7 run to close out the quarter and extend the lead to 48-37.

In the fourth, another 3-pointer from Cadotte made it 55-44. With a little over three minutes left, Twilley cashed in another bucket to make it 57-46.

A minute later, Quezada nailed a technical free throw before Cadotte stole the ball from an El Camino player, raced up the court, made the basket, and drew a foul he’d convert to extend the lead to 59-46.

With the game slowly winding down, a pair of Twilley baskets sandwiched another Cadotte layup, made it 65-46 at the final buzzer. While the dust has yet to settle this year, Munoz is desperate to get back out on the court and build towards next season.

“I want to start next year already,” Munoz said. “I want to get back into the gym on Monday, but some of the boys are three-sport athletes, so it’s time for them to go play some baseball. We’ll get the offseason program going in about a month or so, but we are super excited about next year. It’s year three for me, and we feel like everything is clicking in the right direction.

“We missed the playoffs by one game this year, so being able to get close and play in big games will be huge because next year, we feel like we can make a run.”