St. Helena forges three-way tie atop standings with 62-60 win; Knights, Cougars prevail
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ST. HELENA >> St. Helena used a 24-13 third quarter to erase a seven-point halftime deficit and beat the Middletown Mustangs 62-60 in North Central League I varsity boys basketball action Tuesday night in St. Helena.
Middletown (4-1 league, 12-5 overall) was the only undefeated team remaining in the league standings entering Tuesday’s action. Combined with Kelseyville’s 70-57 win over Clear Lake on Tuesday in Kelseyville, the Mustangs now find themselves in a three-way tie for first with Kelseyville and St. Helena, last year’s league co-champions.
“We had too many turnovers in the second half to be successful,” Middletown head coach Jake Diehl said of the Mustangs’ second loss to the Saints this season (they fell 62-54 to St. Helena in the championship game of the St. Helena Tournament on Dec. 7).
“Hats off to St. Helena,” Diehl added.
Middletown snapped a 13-all tie after one quarter with a 19-12 second quarter.
Bodhi Moore’s 20 points led the Mustangs. Jon Hawkins added 19 points and seven rebounds, Anthony Bowerman had nine points and Jasiah Pike eight.
Middletown hosts Upper Lake on Friday.
In other NCL I varsity action Tuesday:
Kelseyville 70, Clear Lake 57
At Kelseyville, Kelseyville fell behind 8-2 and trailed 8-7 after one quarter, but the Knights dominated the rest of the way, knocking off the Clear Lake Cardinals and pulling into a three-way tie for first place atop the NCL I standings.
“We kind of got wrapped up in the rivalry,” Kelseyville head coach Oscar Lopez said of his team’s slow start. “Once we put our heads on straight, we did just fine.”
Big individual efforts from Brock Barrick in the second quarter and Sebastian Chavez in the third quarter helped the Knights (4-1, 9-8) move out to a 54-40 lead entering the final period.
“We got out in transition and were getting shots,” Lopez said.
Barrick scored 18 of his team-leading 22 points during the Knights’ 24-point second quarter, including all four of his 3-pointers.
“Brock was on,” Lopez said of the senior.
Chavez scored all 12 of his points, including three 3-pointers, in the third quarter.
“He had his best game of the season tonight,” Lopez said.
As is usual when these two archrivals square off, there were plenty of back-and-forth verbal exchange on the floor.
“It was pretty chippy,” he said. “It was nice to see use return to the team that plays aggressive with a full head of steam, which is our game.”
Kyle Watkins joined Barrick and Chavez in double figures with 15 points while Gene Holdenried added nine more and Ryder Leary eight.
Zane McAuley’s 15 points sparked the Cardinals (3-2, 8-8).
“The boys played really hard, stayed after it the whole game,” Clear Lake head coach Mark Cory said. “The second quarter decided the game. Kelseyville got some run-out hoops and made some 3s. They took a 10-point lead that we could not overcome.”
Jesse Hayes scored 11 points and Sawyer Smith had nine for the Cardinals.
“Good lessons learned for our guys tonight,” Cory said.
“They were a little more physical than we anticipated,” Lopez said.
Kelseyville is on the road Friday in Cloverdale while Clear Lake returns home to play Lower Lake.
Upper Lake 65, Lower Lake 47
At Upper Lake, James Beaux Stiritz scored 20 points, and Delaney Allison contributed another 12 as the Upper Lake Cougars snapped a three-game league losing streak with a victory over the Lower Lake Trojans.
“We decided to experiment with the starting five today, giving Wyatt Hallman and Delaney Allison the start,” Upper Lake head coach Tony Arroyo said. “Wyatt started off the game hot for us, hitting back-to-back 3s. Delaney dominated the offensive boards, bringing energy to the rest of the team. With these two starting, Beaux came off the bench, having a great night.”
Arroyo also credit Landen Robinson with a strong game on defense.
“Landen Robinson continues to be our steady, go-to player on the defensive side,” Arroyo said. “He causes a lot of steals and fastbreak points for us. Lower Lake is a young team and they’re starting to really develop. The (final) score might show 18 points difference, but we couldn’t shake them. They worked hard and caused us a lot of issues in the paint.”
Hallman and Gage Faalelea finished with nine points apiece as Upper Lake improved to 2-3 in league and 5-6 overall.
Raijhier McKneeley’s 10 points led a balanced Lower Lake attack. Steven Rich finished with nine, Luke Campbell and Noah Hakala each had eight and Brody Shields seven.
“Our team played a great first half, but for the third quarter we struggled to keep up our focus and continue to play intense ball, and that results in the Cougars getting a number of easy rebounds and easy two-point shots in the paint,” Lower Lake head coach Anthony Farrington said.
Upper Lake took a 28-23 lead into halftime.
“Our team continues to struggle with confidence, and as a result our shooting percentages have dropped,” Farrington said. “However, in an effort to build some confidence we mixed up tonight’s offense a bit, and it was effective in getting a well-rounded score from all of our players, but it just was not enough.”
Added Farrington, “Congrats to coach Arroyo and the Cougars for their well-balanced win.”
Lower Lake is now 0-5 in league play and 2-13 overall.
Upper Lake travels to Middletown on Friday while Lower Lake visits Clear Lake in Lakeport.
