Middletown, Lower Lake drop semifinal-round games at Stokes Tournament
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KELSEYVILLE >> When you’re hot, you’re hot, and that’s what the Kelseyville High School varsity boys basketball team is right now. One week removed from finishing dead last in the Redwood Empire Invitational in Healdsburg, the Knights find themselves playing for the championship in the 53rd annual Stokes Tournament.
The Knights (4-5), winners of three straight since going 0-3 in Healdsburg, play St. Bernard High School of Eureka (7-1) in the Stokes championship game Saturday at 7:30 p.m., the second straight year the two schools have advanced to the finals. St. Bernard, a 63-48 winner over Middletown in Friday’s other semifinal game, beat Kelseyville 61-52 to win last year’s Stokes title.
Any similarities between the Knights of a week ago and the Kelseyville team that took Ferndale apart in the second half Friday night en route to a 61-36 victory are hard to discern. The team’s confidence level is leaps and bounds above where it was at season’s start as the Knights opened with a 1-5 record.
Kelseyville head coach Chaze Russell said he doesn’t know how high the ceiling could be for his 2025-26 squad, but he’s eager to find out.
“They’ve responded well to every challenge I’ve given them,” Russell said. “This team has a lot of potential. I think we can do some great things.”
Kelseyville sank 13 more 3-pointers against Ferndale compared to just 11 two-point buckets. Nick Arredondo had six of those while leading the Knights with 18 points.
Ferndale took a 5-2 lead early in the first quarter until Jacob Amendola hit back-to-back 3-pointers, the second one putting Kelseyville ahead to stay at the 4:02 mark of the first quarter. The Wildcats (2-4) stayed close until midway through the second quarter when Kelseyville pulled away with a 7-0 run, Gordon Astrup going inside for a pair of baskets, and Arredondo burying a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
The Wildcats twice closed for four points in the third quarter, but Arredondo hit a 3-pointer from the baseline and another from the wing to put the Knights up 39-29.
Riley Lopez opened the fourth quarter with a three-point play that made it 44-33 in the Knights’ favor, Arredondo buried another shot from behind the 3-point arc, and the 10-1 Kelseyville run that followed made it 57-34.
“We’ve been putting in the work in practice and doing the right things, and those things are starting to work out for us now in games, which is exciting to see,” Russell said.
“I’m glad we get a shot at St. Bernard to find out where we stand,” Russell added.
Lopez finished with 10 points while Amendola and Jair Inostroza Carrillo had eight apiece, and Astrup seven.
St. Bernard 63, Middletown 48
Minus one of their starters, the Middletown Mustangs (5-6) did all they could to stay close to St. Bernard for the better part of the first half, but the Crusaders never looked back after scoring the first 10 points of the second half.
Jon Hawkins missed the game while attending a college recruiting trip, and his absence was keenly felt on both offense but especially defense as St. Bernard was able to pick Middletown apart down low.
While sophomore center Emmitt Lloyd was able to score a team-high 19 points for Middletown, it wasn’t nearly enough to put a dent in St. Bernard. The Mustangs’ scoring fell off considerably from there as Harrison Brown finished with 10 points while Willie Taddr and Jasiah Pike each had six
Liam Dyer’s 27 points powered St. Bernard while Garrett Shanahan added 16 and Luke Brunton 11.
Middletown plays Ferndale in the third-place game Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
Biggs 71, Lower Lake 58
Lower Lake cut a 19-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to seven points with 2:12 left in the game, but the Biggs Wolverines were able to hit a number of free throws down the stretch to hold off the Trojans (5-6).
Lower Lake trailed 37-28 at halftime and 55-38 through three quarters.
Brody Shields found the range on seven 3-pointers while scoring 23 points for the Trojans. Noah Hakala added 11 points and Raijhier McKneely had 10. Zackquez Sanders and Germaine Cephus finished with seven points apiece.
Lower Lake plays Anderson Valley for seventh place at 11 a.m.
In other boys tournament action Friday:
Colusa 78, Clear Lake 55
At Colusa, the Colusa RedHawks snapped Clear Lake’s seven-game winning streak in the semifinals of the Colusa Tournament.
“The second quarter we lost a starter due to injury, and it just went downhill from there,” Clear Lake head coach Shady Cerezo said. “Both our defense and offense were out of sync.”
AJ Bruch led the Cardinals with 19 points and Zane McAuley added 18.
Clear Lake (7-2) will play for third place Saturday.
Individual scoring was not reported.
In the junior varsity bracket, Sutter defeated Clear Lake 50-38.
The Cardinals are 6-3.
