Kelseyville, Upper Lake boys drop North Central League I contests
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LOWER LAKE >> Noah Hakala’s two-handed slam to end the third quarter put the exclamation point on a Lower Lake 70-45 victory over the Cloverdale Eagles in North Central League I varsity boys basketball action Tuesday night in Lower Lake.
Hakala, a sophomore, scored 22 points and 14 rebounds as the Trojans improved to 3-4 in league play and 9-10 overall. His dunk, which beat the third-quarter buzzer, came on a perfectly placed alley-oop pass from teammate Zackquez Sanderson, who added 13 points, including two 3-pointers, in the win.
“We played a good game and began to pull away in the second half,” Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said.
Lower Lake trailed Cloverdale (3-4, 10-9) at halftime, but a 48-point second half by the Trojans turned the game into a one-sided affair.
Raijhier McKneely finished with 13 points, two 3-pointers and eight rebounds while Tucker Benson had 11 points and three 3-pointers.
Jakubowski also praised the strong defensive play of Adrian Negrete.
“He had a great energy game,” Jakubowski said.
Lower Lake visits Kelseyville on Friday to open the second half of its league schedule. The two teams have already met twice this season. Kelseyville won the first league meeting 54-51 in overtime at Lower Lake, and the Knights also won 52-47 last month at the Stokes Tournament in Kelseyville.
In JV action Tuesday, Cloverdale beat Lower Lake 67-40, dropping the Trojans to 2-5 in league and 9-10 overall.
In other boys league action Tuesday:
Fort Bragg 80, Kelseyville 63
At Kelseyville, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves moved within a game of the league lead by beating Kelseyville, the Knights’ second straight league loss after a 5-0 start.
Kelseyville and Middletown still share the league’s top spot at 5-2, but Fort Bragg and Clear Lake are just a game back at 4-3.
Fort Bragg’s Carter Killion scored 26 points, including five 3-pointers.
Kelseyville (5-2, 7-10) was as close as four points in the third quarter before Fort Bragg pulled away for a double-digit lead.
“We definitely need to hit the reset button,” Kelseyville head coach Chaze Russell said after back-to-back home losses to Cloverdale and Fort Bragg.
Fort Bragg did most of its damage from the outside in the first half before switching strategies in the second half, according to Russell.
“Once they were comfortably in front, they moved the ball around (on the perimeter) and made us commit, then they picked us apart inside,” he said.
Gordon Astrup’s 18 points and 17 more from Nick Arredondo, who had three 3-pointers, led the Knights. Jake Amendola and Jair Inostroza Carrillo had seven points apiece.
Kelseyville hosts Lower Lake on Friday to open the second half of its league schedule.
In JV action, Kelseyville routed Fort Bragg 64-29 to improve to a league-best 6-1. Darin Sprague’s 22 points and another 17 from Hugh O’Boyle powered the Knights, now 8-5 overall.
Kelseyville took a 57-28 league into the fourth quarter.
“O’Boyle played pretty well,” Kelseyville head coach Stan Weiper said. “Merrell did a pretty good job, too.”
Zayden Merrill and Chris Salmina finished with seven points apiece.
“We’ll see what we can do in the second half of the (league) season),” Weiper said.
St. Helena 60, Upper Lake 44
At St. Helena, the Upper Lake Cougars (1-6, 6-11) spotted St. Helena a 14-2 lead in the first three minutes and couldn’t recover, the second straight game they’ve put themselves into a deep hole in the first quarter.
“Just a rough game for us,” Upper Lake assistant coach Thomas Santana said. “It’s not easy to win when we spot them 14 points in the first three minutes of the game. They were leading 14-2 early.”
Added Santana, “We need to bounce back Friday against Fort Bragg and finish the second half of league strong.”
Tj Malicay and Shaun Way finished with 13 points apiece for Upper Lake. Gage Faalelea added six points. Way also pulled down seven rebounds.
Upper Lake hosts Fort Bragg on Friday to begin the second half of its league schedule.
In the JV game, St. Helena won 63-50, dropping the Cougars to 0-7 in league and 0-11 overall. Isaia Pena’s 15 points led Upper Lake while Kaiden Sneed had 12 and Chase Noble nine.
“As a team, we gave the ball away too many times … 30 times to be exact,” Upper Lake head coach Wyatt Hensley said. “A positive takeaway from this game is that w had 13 steals today. Hopefully, we can learn from this mistake as we host Fort Bragg at home.”