Cardinals beat Orland for seventh straight win; Cougars split in Miranda
Lake County Sports on Facebook
KELSEYVILLE >> The Kelseyville and Middletown varsity boys basketball teams punched their tickets to the 53rd annual Stokes Tournament winner’s semifinals on Friday after posting first-round wins Thursday at the Kelseyville High School gym.
Kelseyville (3-5) defeated Lower Lake 52-47, the Knights’ second close win over the Trojans this season, while Middletown (5-5) snapped a two-game losing streak with a 73-31 victory over Anderson Valley. In Friday’s semifinals, Middletown draws St. Bernard of Eureka (6-1) at 5 p.m. while Kelseyville draws Ferndale (2-3) at 8 p.m. Winners of those two games advance to the Stokes Tournament championship game Saturday night.
In other first-round games Thursday, St. Bernard beat Cloverdale 69-54 while Ferndale edged Biggs 59-57
Kelseyville 57, Lower Lake 52
Kelseyville beat Lower Lake 54-51 in Lower Lake on Dec. 9, the North Central League I opener for both teams.
Eleven different Knights reached the scoring column, led by 12 points from Nick Arredondo, who hit three 3-pointers, and 10 from Gordon Astrup.
Lower Lake outscored Kelseyville 18-13 in the fourth quarter, hitting three 3-pointers in the process, but the Knights were able to hold on down the stretch and hand the Trojans another close loss.
“Kelseyville is a real solid team,” Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said. “They shoot the ball well. They were able to get the ball inside on us, giving them easy baskets, and we just never really got settled in.”
Brody Shields finished with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, and Raijhier McKneely added 10 points. Zackquez Sanders added eight points, Noah Hakala had seven and Tucker Benson six.
Lower Lake plays Biggs in the consolation semifinals Friday at 11 a.m.
Middletown 73, Anderson Valley 31
Middletown outscored Anderson Valley 48-17 in the first half and cruised to a first-round win over the Panthers.
“We made some adjustments on defense, and our energy was up throughout the game,” Middletown head coach Jake Diehl said. “We did a really good job moving the ball around, we weren’t forcing shots.”
Middletown had four players score in double figures led by Jon Hawkins with 15. Emmitt Lloyd finished with 13, Kolton Costlow had 12 and Harrison Brown with 10. Cody Perez, Nalu Johnson and Jasiah Pike added six points apiece.
Hawkins pulled down 10 rebounds and also had four assists and three steals. Lloyd finished with eight rebounds.
Clear Lake 57, Corning 34
At Colusa, Zane McAuley finished with 18 points, scoring career point No. 800 along the way, and the Clear Lake Cardinals also stepped up the defensive intensity to knock off Corning in the opening round of the Colusa Tournament.
Jesse Hayes and Sawyer Smith added 12 points apiece as the Cardinals improved to 7-1 with their seventh straight victory. Tony Moreno finished with 10 points.
“We went into the game with a game plan for their best player, and we executed that game plan,” Clear Lake head coach Shady Cerezo said. “Sawyer did a great job guarding him.”
Added Cerezo, “It was a close game throughout the first half. We played with a lot of energy and so did they.”
Hayes hit a 3-pointer before halftime to give the Cardinals a 28-24 lead. Clear Lake put the game away with a 19-5 third quarter.
“Proud of our guys for playing all four quarters tonight,” Cerezo said. “It was a great team effort once again. Offensively we played unselfish basketball. We were hyping up each other, which played a huge part in the game.”
Clear Lake advances to the winner’s semifinals Friday night. The tournament wraps up Saturday.
Upper Lake 66, Willits 52 (first round)
South Fork 72, Upper Lake 66 (second round)
At Miranda, Upper Lake beat Willits in the first round but lost to tournament host South Fork in the second round of the Gene Cotter Memorial Tournament.
In their win over Willits, the Cougars benefited from a balanced scoring attack that featured 16 points from TJ Malicay and 15 points each from Gage Faalelea and Landen Robinson.
“We started off hot with good defense, playing hard and just putting pressure on them,” Upper Lake assistant coach Thomas Santana said.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak.
In the loss to South Fork later Thursday night, Robinson led the way with 19 points, Malicay added 16 and Faalelea 14.
“Another tough loss late in a very close game,” Santana said. “We really fought hard. We just couldn’t stop their second-chance scores. They had a big that we just couldn’t contain.”
Upper Lake plays again Saturday as the tournament concludes.
Clear Lake 60, Willows 26 (JV)
At Colusa, Clear Lake’s junior varsity boys basketball team routed Willows in the opening round of the Colusa Tournament.
Individual scoring was not reported.
Clear Lake improved to 6-2.
Lower Lake 51, Oroville 22 (JV)
At Oroville, Roy Percoats finished with 12 points as the Lower Lake JVs made quick work of Oroville in the opening round of the Oroville Tournament.
Julio Roman came off the bench for the Trojans (6-3) to score eight points.
“Great game for everyone to get experience,” Lower Lake head coach Latoya Fortino said. “Every player was able to get minutes.”
Ryder Steffen scored nine points for Lower Lake and Kyris Kennedy had eight.
