Clear Lake wins Duffy Memorial; Middletown takes second in REIBT
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CALISTOGA >> Led by tournament most valuable player AJ Bruch and All-Tourney selection Zane McAuley, the Clear Lake High School varsity boys basketball team nailed down the championship in the Gene Duffy Memorial on Saturday with a 59-47 victory over the South Fork Cubs at Calistoga High School.
“It was a great win today against a good South Fork team that beat (defending North Central League I co-champion) St. Helena last night 75-72,” Clear Lake head coach Shady Cerezo said. “We were going up against a South Fork team that had gained two starters from the last time we played them in South Fork 11 days ago (Clear Lake won 52-37 in Miranda).”
While McAuley (17 points) and Bruch (15 points) led the offense with other contributions from Sawyer Smith, who had nine points, and Tony Moreno, who had eight, it was the play of Clear Lake’s defense that drew the biggest praise from Cerezo, who credited his new assistant coach.
“Once again I praised our defensive effort,” Cerezo said. “Thanks to Jaron Mertle, who is on our coaching staff and has been a great addition to our program, with every game we’re starting to fix the little things that will help us going forward.”
The Cardinals led 12-11 after one quarter and a 25-16 advantage by halftime. Calistoga made a run in the third quarter to close the gap to 38-34, but the Cardinals dominated the final period.
“We played unselfish, hard-nosed basketball all three days and I couldn’t be prouder of our guys,” Cerezo said.
Clear Lake advanced to Saturday’s championship game with a 67-21 victory over Technology in the semifinals Friday. McAuley led the Cardinals with 18 points, Bruch had 16 and Jesse Hayes 12.
“We had a good game offensively and once against our defense set the tone,” Cerezo said. “When you give up 21 points in 32 minutes, you’re happy. Defensively we got after it”
Clear Lake (5-1) resumes its North Central League I schedule Tuesday at home against Upper Lake.
In other Saturday boys tournament action:
Lower Lake 75, Princeton 46
At Maxwell, Noah Hakala scored 22 points and All-Tourney selection Raijhier McKneely finished with 13 as the Lower Lake Trojans beat Princeton in the third-place game of the Maxwell Tournament.
Lower Lake pulled away with a 24-5 first quarter, pushing its lead to 41-13 by halftime.
Brody Shields added eight points, Germaine Cephus had seven and Zackquez Sanders six as the Trojans squared their record at 4-4.
Every player on Lower Lake’s roster reached the scoring column and the Trojans had five 3-pointers on the day.
Lower Lake hits the road Tuesday to play Fort Bragg in a league game before opening play Thursday in the 53rd annual Stokes Tournament at Kelseyville.
Credo 45, Upper Lake 44 (OT)
At Cloverdale, Upper Lake committed a costly foul after missing a shot that would have put them in front with 14 seconds left in overtime, and Credo hit one of two free throws to snap a 44-all tie and beat the Cougars in the consolation championship game of the John McMillian Holiday Invitational at Cloverdale High School.
“We didn’t do a great job of time management late in the fourth quarter,” Upper Lake coach Thomas Santana said. “Lack of varsity experience … most or our guys were on JV last year, so we have only three returning varsity players this year.”
Gage Faalelea, Landen Robinson and Antario Wyman had nine points apiece to lead the Cougars (3-5).
“We learn and hope to improve in close games like that,” Santana said. “I’m proud of our efforts to fight back into it, but it’s never easy to lose a game like that.”
Upper Lake hits the road Tuesday to play Clear Lake in a league game.
Marin Academy 68, Middletown 46
At Healdsburg, in a battle of two teams looking for their first ever Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament (REIBT) championship, the Marin Academy Wildcats sank 14 3-pointers while beating the Middletown Mustangs, who were trying to become the first Lake County team to win the tournament.
Middletown (4-4) stayed close for a quarter but simply couldn’t match Marin Academy’s firepower on this night. The Wildcats hit back-to-back 3-pointers twice in the first quarter and had six treys overall in the opening period while building a 24-18 lead.
A 9-3 run by the Wildcats (9-2) to open the second quarter made it 33-21. All-Tournament selection Harrison Brown hit a pull-up jumper for Middletown to close the gap to 33-23, at which point the red-hot shooting Wildcats scored the next seven points for a 40-23 lead.
Middletown went into halftime trailing 45-25 and was never closer than 19 points the rest of the way.
Middletown (4-4) couldn’t keep up with Marin Academy’s crisp passing and ball movement. The Wildcats moved the ball inside and then back out, rotating it around the perimeter to locate an open shooter, and Marin Academy didn’t have to rely on any one player as several found the range from beyond the 3-point arc.
“I’ve got to give it to them,” Middletown head coach Jake Diehl said of the Wildcats. “They were moving the ball around and finding the open man. We were a step off all game and that’s all it takes for them to make those 3-pointers. They didn’t miss many (in the first half).”
Marin Academy sank nine of its 14 3-pointers in the first half.
Diehl said the Mustangs “looked tired” while playing their fourth game in five days. They’ll sandwich days of practice Monday and Wednesday around a league game Tuesday at Kelseyville, then return to Kelseyville on Thursday for the start of the Stokes Tournament.
“Our energy was not what it was the last few games,” Diehl said.
Middletown had won three straight since members of the school’s football squad rejoined the team on Monday.
Jon Hawkins scored 13 points and Emmitt Lloyd added 12 against Marin Academy Harrison Brown fouled out with nine points and Cody Perez had six. Hawkins and Brown were named to the All-Tournament team.
Willits 63, Kelseyville 59
At Healdsburg, Kaiden Oliver, a senior guard, threatened a 46-year-old REIBT single-game scoring record as he scored 43 points, including 22 of Willits’ 24 first-quarter points, to fuel the Wolverines’ victory the Kelseyville Knights in the REIBT seventh-place game.
The current record of 45 was established in 1979.
Oliver found the range on six 3-pointers in the first quarter alone.
Even with Oliver’s heroics, the Wolverines trailed by a point entering a fourth quarter that went back and forth before Willits pulled out the win against a Kelseyville team that continues to struggle down the stretch in games – as they did in a first-round loss to Healdsburg and an overtime loss to Mendocino in the consolation semifinals.
“Our Achilles heel has been the last two and a half, three minutes of game. We start making dumb mistakes and the other team takes advantage of it,” Kelseyville head coach Chaze Russell said. “There’s only so much coaching can do to get them ready for those situations. At some point they’ve got to go out there and take it upon themselves to stop making bad passes or forcing the ball.”
Gordon Astrup led the Knights (1-5) with 14 points and All-Tournament selection Nick Arredondo had 13. Ryan Keithly added another six.
The Knights’ job doesn’t get any easier Tuesday as they host Middletown, defending NCL I co-champion. Kelseyville hosts the Stokes Tournament beginning Thursday.
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