{"id":2019,"date":"2025-01-19T02:27:42","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T02:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=2019"},"modified":"2025-01-19T02:27:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T02:27:42","slug":"knights-mustangs-cards-keep-race-tight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=2019","title":{"rendered":"Knights, Mustangs, Cards keep race tight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

North Central League I boys basketball race approaching midway point<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lake County Sports on Facebook<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CLOVERDALE >> Whatever hope the Cloverdale Eagles had left after twice closing double-digit deficits to just a handful of points against the Kelseyville Knights disappeared in a heartbeat early in the fourth quarter Friday night in Cloverdale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With two sudden bursts of offense, and impressive ones at that, the Knights maintained a three-way share of the North Central League I lead with a 65-46 victory over the Eagles, improving to 5-1 in the league standings \u2013 the same as St. Helena and Middletown \u2013 and 10-8 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s kind of been our MO, keep it close and then turn on the offense, and most of the time we get away with it,\u201d said Kelseyville head coach Oscar Lopez, who added he didn\u2019t realize how far the Knights were ahead after until the middle of the fourth quarter. \u201cI thought it was still a six-point game or something like that. I looked up (at the scoreboard) and was like \u2018wow!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloverdale (2-4) trailed 18-7 after one quarter but got as close as three points \u2013 24-21 \u2013 right before halftime although Kelseyville\u2019s Tyler Bryant (11 points) scored in the final seconds to make it 26-21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights again moved out to a double-digit lead in the third quarter and were up by as many as 12 points before the Eagles again charged hard near quarter\u2019s end to get as close as 44-39.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Eagles were looking to carry over that momentum to the fourth quarter, it never happened, not even for a split second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryant\u2019s basket inside with a Brock Barrick assist opened the fourth quarter, and before you knew it, it was 52-39 as Ryder Leary and Barrick (18 points, five 3-pointers) connected on back-to-back 3-pointers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloverdale senior center Broxton Montanye scored down low to temporarily halt Kelseyville\u2019s run, but yet another run by the Knights, this time a 9-0 surge, ended the game for all intents and purposes. Barrick hit another 3-pointer with 6:17 remaining, Bryant drew a shooting foul and made both free throws, Kyle Watkins (10 points) scored on a driving layup with 4:10 to go, and another basket inside at the 3:30 mark made it 61-41.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe get balanced scoring and have a deep bench, so that\u2019s always helpful,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a couple of Kelseyville starters opening the game on the bench for team disciplinary reasons, the Knights didn\u2019t miss a beat during the first quarter, a quarter that hasn\u2019t been kind to them on several occasions this season. Gordon Astrup, drawing a start, scored the game\u2019s first four points, and he also had the Knights\u2019 first two points in the second half. He finished with eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought Adam and Tyler played great,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of his team\u2019s problem during a six-point second quarter as the Eagles rallied to within three was not sharing the basketball, according to Lopez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe played a little selfish in the second quarter,\u201d he said. \u201cWe did a better job in the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville outscored Cloverdale 41-25 over the final two quarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The balanced scoring the Knights have come to rely on was there again Friday night. With Barrick, Bryant and Watkins all scoring double figures and Astrup adding eight and Leary seven, Kelseyville didn\u2019t have to rely on one of its other offensive threats, Gene Holdenried, who was shut out on the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were able to do that (65 points) without Gene and that shows what we are capable of,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On giving up double-digit leads in the second and third quarters, Lopez smiled and said, \u201cWe like to make it entertaining. They like to give me an ulcer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights close out the first half of their league schedule Tuesday in Fort Bragg and open the second half Friday in Lower Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville also won the junior varsity game Friday although the Eagles made a late run, cutting a 33-19 deficit after three quarters to 37-35 with 29.2 seconds left. Kelseyville was able to run out the clock before Cloverdale had a chance to tie or win the game with a last-second shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordon Astrup\u2019s 10 points led the Knights (6-0 league, 10-6 overall). Joey Watson added six points while Nick Arredondo, Kimo Brown and Elijah Watkins had four points each. Arredondo led the team with eight rebounds and four blocks. Watkins had six rebounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights traveled to Justin-Siena for a non-league game Saturday. They remain on the road Tuesday to play Fort Bragg in NCL I action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other NCL I boys action Friday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown 79, Upper Lake 51<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Middletown, Bodhi Moore poured in 39 points, including five 3-pointers, and the Middletown Mustangs rolled past the Upper Lake Cougars to remain tied with Kelseyville and St. Helena atop the league standings. All three teams are 5-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe set our goals and accomplished them,\u201d Middletown head coach Jake Diehl said. \u201cThey took care of the basketball and spread the court well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anthony Bowerman added 13 points and 10 rebounds while Harrison Brown also had 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Jon Hawkins finished with eight points and 11 rebounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead 43-33 at halftime, Middletown, 13-5 overall, put the game away with a 20-8 third quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Beaux Stiritz led the Cougars (2-4, 5-7) with 15 points, Jerod Rosales had 10 and Landen Robinson eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe played great in the first quarter, having our highest scoring (quarter) of the year,\u201d Upper Lake head coach Tony Arroyo said. \u201cMiddletown couldn\u2019t miss a shot, and we still kept it close.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Arroyo, \u201cMiddletown caught fire in the third (quarter) and we couldn\u2019t get one to fall, so their lead exploded. Our boys fought hard until the end, but Middletown is a great team. They move the ball well and are very athletic. The biggest thing for us was the team play on our part that really shined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown closes out the first half of its league schedule Tuesday against Clear Lake (4-2) in Lakeport while Upper Lake hosts St. Helena (5-1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown also won the JV game, 55-45, behind 18 points, including five 3-pointers, from Cody Perez. Nalu Johnson and John Finney each had eight points while Valentin Jimenez added seven points and 10 rebounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two teams went into halftime tied at 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were rough with the turnovers here and there, but we paced ourselves to an excellent league win at home,\u201d Middletown head coach Andy Brown said. \u201cI can\u2019t complain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TJ Malicay\u2019s 13 points powered the Upper Lake offense while Sean Way and Antario Wyman each had 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe gotta play all four quarters,\u201d Upper Lake head coach Lupeli Faleagafulu said. \u201cScoring four points in the first quarter and six in the third quarter isn\u2019t going to help you win games. We had opportunities but couldn\u2019t finish on them. We were able to make a run and tie the game going into halftime but came out flat in the third quarter and weren\u2019t able to get back in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Clear Lake 64, Lower Lake 47<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Lakeport, while Zane McAuley\u2019s 32 points provided the spark on offense for Clear Lake (4-2, 9-8) in a league win over Lower Lake (0-6, 2-14), the Cardinals also got a big lift from Kaden Graham, according to head coach Mark Cory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKaden Graham (11 points) had a very good game inside scoring and rebounding,\u201d Cory said. \u201cAs a team we did not shoot it very well tonight. We played more consistently in the second and third quarters and struggled in the first and fourth. Lower Lake came out and battled hard throughout the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sawyer Smith also had 11 points for Clear Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur team showed some good hustle tonight and we did well handling the Cardinals\u2019 press,\u201d Lower Lake head coach Anthony Farrington said. \u201cOur players slowed down and began passing out of the press instead of dribbling out of the press, which is a major shift for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Farrington, \u201cWe also had some great ball movement, and we started making some good shots. We also remained competitive with the Cards throughout the game despite a tough second period.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brody Shields led the Trojans with 14 points and Germain Cephus added 12 more. Raijhier McKneeley had eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was great to be back in my old gym and pluck a few feathers tonight,\u201d said Farrington, who helped lead the Cardinals to league and section championships in the late 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongrats to coach Cory and his team on a well-earned win,\u201d Farrington said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake also picked up a win in the JV game, 72-25. Ayden Moreno led a balanced Cardinals attack with 19 points, Jaxson Fiske and Noah Cleaver each had 12, Joey Portlock had nine and Nolan Buffalo eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a well-rounded game, everyone contributed,\u201d Clear Lake head coach Shady Cerezo said. \u201cWe got after it from the start. Everyone was engaged. We played unselfish basketball and were looking for the better shot. It was a total team effort and I\u2019m proud of our team for cheering on each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake plays at Sonoma Valley in a non-league game Monday. Clear Lake is home Tuesday to close out the first half of its league schedule against Middletown (5-1).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Kelseyville’s Kyle Watkins puts up a shot against Cloverdale on Friday night in Cloverdale. (Photo by Brian Sumpter)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Central League I boys basketball race approaching midway point Lake County Sports on Facebook CLOVERDALE >> Whatever hope the Cloverdale Eagles had left after twice closing double-digit deficits to just a handful of points against the Kelseyville Knights disappeared in a heartbeat early in the fourth quarter Friday night in Cloverdale. With two sudden […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,16,20,12,17,18,19,50],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2022,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019\/revisions\/2022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}