St. Helena edges Kelseyville 47-42; Middletown, Clear Lake, Upper Lake win games
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ST. HELENA >> For a team that couldn’t sink a free throw to save its life for the first three quarters, the St. Helena Saints made just about everything down the stretch, at the line and from the field, to sink the Kelseyville Knights, 47-42, in a North Central League I battle for first place Friday night in St. Helena.
With both teams heading into the key contest tied at 8-1 in the standings, and with the Middletown Mustangs lurking just a game back, the Saints put themselves back into the driver’s seat as far as the league race is concerned. Last season’s co-league champs along with Kelseyville, the Saints (9-1 league, 19-2 overall) now face a critical road test next Friday night in Middletown where the Mustangs will be hoping to avenge a 62-60 loss to the Saints earlier this season in St. Helena.
Kelseyville (8-2, 13-9) will be Middletown’s biggest fan, according to Kelseyville head coach Oscar Lopez, who watched the Knights’ chance of putting a stranglehold on the league race fade away in the closing minutes.
“We’ve got to finish strong and hope someone helps us out, namely Middletown,” Lopez said.
In a game where the two teams were never separated by more than seven points – and it was a one- or two-possession game almost the entire second half – it became readily apparent early on that there wouldn’t be many uncontested shots as both defenses put on quite a strong display.
“We played very good defense, but we weren’t very good offensively,” Lopez said.
Only one Knight – senior Kyle Watkins – scored in double digits as he came on strong in the second half to tally 12 of his 15 points, leaving him three shy of 1,000 for his career. With Watkins leading the way, the Knights looked like they might actually escape a rocking St. Helena gym with the victory, but things went south in a hurry for Kelseyville at the 2:17 mark of the fourth quarter when Watkins picked up his fifth foul.
Kelseyville was trailing 42-40 when Watkins fouled out, though the Knights tied it up on their next possession as Brock Barrick scored down low.
The Saints dominated the final 2:01 following a Kelseyville timeout.
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With Watkins, one of the team’s top rebounders and its most consistent scorer now out of the way, the Saints immediately took advantage on a three-shot sequence. Junior forward Dean Sommer took all three shots, missing the first two from right underneath the basket but getting the offensive rebound each time. He was fouled on the third shot and hit the first of two free throws to put the Saints ahead to stay at 43-42.
Kelseyville promptly turned the ball over and the Saints seized the moment as Peter Oliver sank a one-handed, off-balance runner in the lane to make it 45-42.
The Knights took a timeout with 41.1 seconds left. When play resumed, Gene Holdenried missed a 3-pointer from the corner although the Knights came down with the rebound, but they turned it over with 15.9 seconds remaining and committed a foul. The Saints in the bonus, so Oliver went to the line and knocked down both free throws, a welcome sight for a St. Helena team that went just 10-for-25 at the line for the game.
Barrick missed a 3-pointer in the closing seconds. St. Helena rebounded the ball and ran out the clock.
“We hit some shots there at the end to keep in close, but they made some big free throws in the fourth quarter,” Lopez said.
Barrick’s 3-pointer with just under 2:30 to play cut St. Helena’s lead to 42-40, right before Watkins fouled out.
“We just needed one more 3-pointer there at the end, but we didn’t get it,” Lopez said.
Both teams struggled from behind the arc, St. Helena finished with three 3-pointers to Kelseyville’s two. The Knights also didn’t have a good night at the line, making just six of 14 shots.
That the Saints were able to get to the line for 25 shots to his team’s 14 wasn’t lost on Lopez.
“That was the difference right there,” Lopez said. “They were able to get to the line, us not as much.”
While losing a big game on the road was a tough one to swallow for the senior-dominated Knights, they also may be without Watkins for an additional game. He was ejected after the final horn had sounded, according to Lopez, following a brief exchange with an official.
If the ejection stands, Watkins will miss the Knights’ home game Wednesday against Upper Lake, which means he won’t return to the court until next Friday against Clear Lake in Lakeport.
Losing Watkins with 2:17 to play was nothing less than a severe blow, according to Lopez.
“He was killing them, he was on a rampage there (in the second half),” Lopez said. “He was showing us right there why he’s one of the best players in the league.”
Watkins didn’t get much help in the scoring column from his teammates. Barrick was the next highest Kelseyville scorer with just seven points followed by Jayden Teabo with five.
“He was carrying us,” Lopez said of Watkins.
St. Helena didn’t take its first lead until the 4:17 mark of the third quarter. Sommer scored down low, drew a foul and hit the free throw to put the Saints up 38-35.
The teams were tied six times – 11-11, 29-29, 31-31, 33-33, 35-35 and 42-42.
The Saints were led by Oliver’s 14 points and Sommer’s 11. Jack Robinson and Xander Kelperis had seven each.
St. Helena, Kelseyville and Middletown all have four games remaining.
While the Kelseyville varsity came up short against St. Helena, the Knights’ junior varsity team rolled to a 66-46 win behind 28 points from Nick Arredondo and 11 from Joey Watson.
Kelseyville is now 10-0 in league play and 14-7 overall.
In other boys action Friday:
Middletown 71, Lower Lake 41
At Lower Lake, Bodhi Moore’s 31 points, including four 3-pointers, and 11 points apiece from Anthony Bowerman and Jon Hawkins carried the Middletown Mustangs to an easy win over the Lower Lake Trojans.
Middletown (8-2, 16-6) now shares second place with Kelseyville, both teams one game behind St. Helena, who the Mustangs host next Friday.
“We played clean and fast for two solid quarters,” Middletown head coach Jake Diehl said of the 41-18 lead the Mustangs enjoyed at halftime. “Everyone got to play tonight.”
Harrison Brown added seven points in the win.
“We were only down by eight points after the first quarter, but then we struggled to catch up,” Lower Lake head coach Anthony Farrington said. “Despite the 30-point loss tonight, our team definitely improved from the first game against the Mustangs where we lost by 54 points. Tonight they (Mustangs) ran a good press that we were able to break, but they tired us out, and their size and physical play caused us problems.”
Noah Hakala and Raijhier McKneely led the Trojans (0-10, 2-19) with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Luke Campbell added seven more and Brody Shields had six.
“We had some good moments, and our players have nothing to be ashamed of given their competitive and improved play tonight,” Farrington said.
Middletown hosts Fort Bragg on Wednesday while Lower Lake travels to league-leading St. Helena.
In JV action, Middletown defeated Lower Lake. No results were reported by either team.
Clear Lake 73, Fort Bragg 66
At Fort Bragg, Zane McAuley scored 23 points to power Clear Lake past the Fort Bragg Timberwolves, a game that didn’t get close until the final minutes.
“Good win for us,” Clear Lake head coach Mark Cory said. “We played a good game until the last three minutes. It’s always good to come to Fort Bragg and get a win.”
Jesse Hayes and AJ Bruch joined McAuley in double digits with 13 points apiece.
Clear Lake (6-4, 11-10) stays on the road Wednesday to play Cloverdale.
Clear Lake’s JVs also came away with a win, beating the Timberwolves 70-39 behind 27 points from Ayden Moreno and 16 from Noah Cleaver.
Clear Lake used a 20-6 second quarter to open up a 36-19 halftime lead.
“We never looked back after the second,” Clear Lake head coach Shady Cerezo said. “Ayden and Noah had a good night shooting the ball. All and all it was a great team effort.”
Gael Moreno added eight points and Copper Garrity had seven as Clear Lake squared its league record at 5-5.
Upper Lake 73, Cloverdale 65 (OT)
At Upper Lake, outscoring Cloverdale 13-5 in the extra period, the Upper Lake Cougars knocked off the Eagles in overtime behind 32 points from James Beaux Stiritz.
In a game that was close most of the way, Cloverdale had as much as an 11-point lead at one point before Upper Lake came storming back.
“Scoring from Beaux and Jerod (Rosales) brought us back into the game,” Upper Lake head coach Tony Arroyo said. “
Solid rebounding from Stiritz, Jerod Rosales (16 points) and Delaney Allison (nine points) were a huge factor in the win, according to Arroyo.
“Delaney, Jerod and Beaux dominated on the boards both on offense and defense,” Arroyo said. “With only one 3-pointers falling for us the whole game, we really had to work hard to get the win.”
Stiritz scored eight of the Cougars’ 13 points in overtime.
“We’re glad we got that win,” Arroyo added. “Everyone played their role and played it had. We hope to carry on this momentum into next week’s games.”
Landen Robinson had eight points for the Cougars (3-7, 6-10).
Upper Lake travels to Kelseyville on Wednesday.
Cloverdale won the JV game 49-35. Shaun Way led the Cougars (3-7) with 12 points, Antario Wyman added nine and TJ Malicay had seven.
“We just didn’t make our shots, simple as that,” Upper Lake head coach Lupeli Faleagafulu said. “I told the guys that it just wasn’t working for us today offensively. We were able to get the open shots, great looks, but just couldn’t cash them in.”
