Middletown home Friday to host St. Helena in game that could decide NCL I race
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CLOVERDALE >> From early in the second quarter on, it was all Cloverdale Eagles as they ran away from the Clear Lake Cardinals, 77-50, in North Central League I varsity boys basketball action Wednesday night in Cloverdale.
“I wouldn’t say we showed up ready to play good basketball and Cloverdale did,” Clear Lake head coach Mark Cory said. “We got our asses kicked.”
A red-hot Cloverdale team found the range from behind the 3-point arc 11 different times.
“They did not shoot like that the last time we played,” Cory said of a 63-56 Clear Lake win over Cloverdale on Jan. 10 in Lakeport. “We did not shoot well … the worst we’ve shot since losing to St. Helena at the Calistoga Tournament.”
Clear Lake trailed 16-9 early in the first quarter but closed to 23-20 with a burst of offense, one that appeared and disappeared almost as quickly. The Eagles answered with a flurry of 3-pointers, building a 36-24 lead by halftime.
The Cardinals were still in the game after three quarters, trailing 50-39, but Cloverdale went on a 10-2 run to open the fourth period, hitting three more 3-pointers during that span. The Eagles’ lead reached as many as 31 points late in the quarter.
Vann Randolph led a smooth-running Eagles offense with 22 points, Jesus Arizmendi had 18 and Casy Kamondy 17 as Cloverdale improved to 4-7 in the league standings and 10-13 overall.
Zane McAuley’s 15 points paced the Cardinals (6-5, 11-1), who were officially eliminated from the league. Sawyer Smith added 10 points, Jesse Hayes had eight and Jace Beard seven.
Besides shooting the ball well, the Eagles also had a big night on the boards, especially offensively, which was a bit of a surprise, according to Cory.
“We’ve struggled at times because we’re not a big team, but we’ve done a pretty nice job (rebounding) during the season,” Cory said.
Clear Lake hosts Kelseyville on Friday with a chance to derail Kelseyville’s title hopes as the Knights are in a tight battle with St. Helena and Middletown for the league championship.
Cloverdale also won the junior varsity game, 66-54, despite 26 points from Noah Cleaver.
“It was a good team effort,” Clear Lake head coach Shady Cerezo said. “We were fighting an uphill battle throughout the whole game. We got up by one at one point in the fourth, but we just didn’t execute offensively and defensive to come out with the win.”
Ayden Moreno had 13 points in the loss and Gael Moreno 12.
“I’m proud of my guys for battle, especially Gael Moreno,” Cerezo said. “Moreno played hard the whole game.”
Clear Lake is 5-6 in league play.
In other boys action Wednesday:
Middletown 72, Fort Bragg 33
At Middletown, after scoring just nine points in the first quarter, the Middletown offense shifted into overdrive, scoring a combined 52 points over the next two quarters to blow out the Fort Bragg Timberwolves.
“We settled in and put the game out of reach fast,” Middletown head coach Jake Diehl said of the team’s 24-5 and 28-10 second and third quarters. “A solid defensive effort and the transition game was smoking.”
Bodhi Moore’s 23 points and six assists sparked the Mustangs, now 9-2 in league play and 17-6 overall. Sophomore guard Harrison Brown added 18 points, including four 3-pointers, Anthony Bowerman finished with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, and freshman Willy Tadder had nine points.
Middletown hosts St. Helena (10-1) on Friday, the huge final game of a four-game set between the two schools. A win would lift the Mustangs into a tie for first place – either a two-way tie or a three-way tie depending on how Kelseyville (9-2) fares against Clear Lake (6-5) – in the NCL I standings.
Middletown is 0-2 against St. Helena this season. In their earlier league meeting at St. Helena, the Mustangs fell 62-60.
In the JV game, Middletown beat Fort Bragg 68-50, pulling away in the second half.
“We went into halftime tied at 29,” Middletown head coach Andy Brown said. “We played a strong third quarter and were able to go up by 10.”
Cody Perez led the team with 19 points and five 3-pointers while Nalu Johnson recorded another double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds. John Finney added 13 points and three steals.
Brown praised the play of Leland Pike (five steals) as well as Tyler Galamay and Dylan Caviness.
“They gave us some needed energy and turned the game around for us in the third quarter,” Brown said.
Kelseyville 63, Upper Lake 47
At Kelseyville, led by Tyler Bryant, Kelseyville’s bench scored 32 points – more than half of the team total – in a league win over the Upper Lake Cougars.
“He came in and scored seven in the second quarter,” Kelseyville head coach Oscar Lopez said of the senior Bryant, who led the Knights (9-2, 14-9) with 16 points. “When we needed a spark in the fourth, he came in and scored a quick five.”
Upper Lake (3-8, 6-11) used a 17-12 third quarter to cut Kelseyville’s advantage to 44-32 entering the final period.
“The effort was there, the energy wasn’t,” Lopez said in his assessing his team’s effort against the Cougars. “We (JV and varsity teams) were very flat in both games, which was weird.”
Kelseyville also received seven points off the bench from both Ryder Leary and Adam Astrup. Sebastian Chavez added six points and Gene Holdenried five. Astrup also pulled down 10 rebounds.
“I thought he did a great job coming in off the bench,” Lopez said of Astrup.
The Knights were without Kyle Watkins, who had to sit a game after being ejected from the team’s 47-42 loss last Friday in St. Helena. Watkins, who is just six points shy of reaching 1,000 for his career, will be back in the lineup Friday when Kelseyville travels to Lakeport to take on Clear Lake.
James Beaux Stiritz led the Cougars with 17 points while Jared Rosales added nine and Connor Vogel had seven.
“We played a good game,” Upper Lake head coach Tony Arroyo said. “We cut their 20-point lead to seven at one point early in the fourth quarter, but their shooting pulled them ahead. Beaux played great today, again having another double-double with points and rebounds. We fought hard and kept it competitive, and that’s all we can ask for.”
Like the Knights, the Cougars weren’t playing will a full compliment.
“Delaney (Allison) was out today due to sickness, so we were definitely missing him with the rebounding on the offensive side,” Arroyo said. “All in all it was a good game. Kelseyville has great shooters and their second unit hustles hard.”
With a win against Clear Lake and a Middletown home victory against St. Helena, the Knights could find themselves back in a tie for first place Friday night. They’ll certainly be keeping an eye on the St. Helena at Middletown game.
“That’s the beauty of the NCL I,” Lopez said. “It’s a dogfight.”
Upper Lake travels to Lower Lake on Friday.
In JV action, Kelseyville improved to 11-0 in the NCL I standings and 15-7 overall with a victory over Upper Lake (3-8).
Nick Arredondo scored 16 points for the Knights, who can clinch no worse than a tie for the league title with a victory Friday against Clear Lake. Joey Watson added 10 points and Elijah Watkins had nine.
TJ Malicay’s 14 points paced the Cougars while Shawn Way had seven and Antario Wyman five.
“We weren’t on our game on offense,” Upper Lake head coach Lupeli Faleagafulu said. “They are a very good offensive team, and we needed to make our shot if we wanted to stay with them, but we just couldn’t do that today. We didn’t have two of our starters that are a big impact on our rebounding, so hopefully we get them back for Friday.”
St. Helena 77, Lower Lake 46
At St. Helena, the Lower Lake Trojans were competitive for a half against the league-leading St. Helena Saints, who pulled away over the final two quarters for the win.
Still, it was a pretty big improvement for a Lower Lake team that lost 82-24 to the Saints (10-1, 20-2) earlier this month in Lower Lake.
“We were only to the No. 1 team by only nine points (at halftime),” Lower Lake head coach Anthony Farrington said. “We had only seven players tonight and unfortunately we got tired in the second half and could not keep up our good man defense and stopped getting boards.”
Luke Campbell’s 16 points led the Trojans (0-11, 2-21) while Noah Hakala and Raijhier McKneely finished with eight apiece.
“We are headed in the right direction in closing the point gaps on teams played,” Farrington said. “It was a good night for the Trojans despite the loss.”
Results of the Lower Lake-St. Helena JV game were not reported.
