LAKEPORT >> Kelseyville hasn’t won anything yet, but the North Central League I defending champions cleared one more huge hurdle in their quest for a title repeat with a 75-72 victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals on Friday night in Lakeport.
A packed house — fans were being turned away — watched these two archrivals pound away at each other all night. Clear Lake got the early jump with a huge first quarter – 27-22 – but Kelseyville’s dominance during the middle quarters gave the Knights (8-0 league, 17-3 overall) a 57-49 lead going into the final period.
And these two teams were just getting heated up as things turned out.
Kelseyville survived a withering Clear Lake 3-point barrage down the stretch to maintain the lead, which was cut to 74-72 in the final seconds.
“We missed a long two that rimmed out and they got the rebound,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said. “We had to foul immediately.”
Kelseyville’s Randy Pfann made one of two free throws to make it 75-72 and Clear Lake (5-3, 11-9) missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“It was a great atmosphere to play in, what an incredible atmosphere,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said. “It felt like 5,000 people were in the gym.”
“Our gameplan was to try and wear them down,” De Leon said. “I have to give credit to Trey (Conrad). He’s a really solid player, he’s what you want in a point guard, and he make them (Knights) go.”
“I thought it was Trey’s best game,” Conrad said of his son’s performance. “He’s a much more physical player than he was a year ago.”
Conrad, who drew all kinds of attention from the Clear Lake defense, still finished the game with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists.
And he wasn’t the only Kelseyville player who came up big.
“(Jon) Vanderwall stepped up for them in the fourth quarter and so did (Scott) Sanchez,” De Leon said.
Vanderwall scored six of his 15 points down the stretch while Sanchez scored all 12 of his points in the second half for the Knights, who had another unsung hero in Kyle Ashworth.
“We were in all kinds of foul trouble in the first quarter,” Conrad said. “Kyle gave us some extended minutes off the bench so we could rest people. He was fantastic. He calmed us down in a hostile environment.”
Clear Lake’s effort was nothing short of all out, according to De Leon.
“We gave them absolutely everything we had,” De Leon said. “My guys were warriors, they played their hearts out … every single one of them.”
Two Clear Lake seniors – Tanner Hutton (20 points) and Jake Elsa (11 points) – fueled the Cardinals’ comeback down the stretch as did junior Rodrigo Lupercio. “Tanner scored 11 of his points in the fourth quarter and Lupercio and Elsa each made two 3-pointers,” De Leon said.
Two other major contibutors were Kelseyville’s Pfann (13 points) and Clear Lake’s Tj Marcks (10 points). Vanderwall also finished with eight rebounds.
Kelseyville faces another huge road test Tuesday in Cloverdale against the Eagles (6-2).
In terms of the rivalry between the two schools, the Knights have definitely gained the upper hand in recent years. They’ve won 10 straight meetings and 12 of the last 13.
In junior varsity action, Clear Lake beat Kelseyville 52-27 to improve to 7-1 in league play. Joey Mendonca’s 10 points powered the Cardinals, now 17-2 overall. Donovan Valadez added eight points and Matthew Martin had six.
In other boys action Friday:
Cloverdale 56, Middletown 51
At Middletown, asked what the difference was as the Cloverdale Eagles rallied from a 27-23 halftime deficit to beat Middletown in a NCL I game where both teams took the floor with 5-2 league records, Mustangs head coach G.J. Rockwell didn’t hesitate in answering.
“They outrebounded us in the fourth quarter,” Rockwell said. “And we couldn’t make our free throws.”
Middletown, a team that averages 72 percent from the line, shot just 33 percent (9-for-27) against Cloverdale.
As far as rebounding goes, there were two instances late in the game when the Mustangs couldn’t grab the defensive rebound after Cloverdale missed free throws. The Eagles responded by sinking 3-pointers each time.
“That’s a six-point swing right there,” Rockwell said.
Cloverdale’s Jordan Person (21 ponts) was another problem for Middletown, which lost track of him too many times in the second half.
“He made four 3s in the second half,” Rockwell said. “He killed us.”
Add it all up and it was a big lost opportunity for the Mustangs (5-3, 12-7), who now trail Kelseyville (8-0) by three games in the league race.
“We played hard and were getting what we needed to get on offense in the first three quarters,” Rockwell said. “In the fourth quarter we got away from what got us to where we were.”
Cloverdale outscored Middletown 16-10 in the final period.
Andres Cervantes led the Mustangs with 14 points, Jeffrey Morris added 12 and Thomas Cook had 11.
Middletown won the JV game 43-42 as Will Aden led the Mustangs (6-2) with 13 points and Justin Hollingsworth added nine.
The Mustangs also received six clutch points off the bench from Tyler Crudo, who didn’t make his first appearance in the game until late in the third quarter.
“He was like a ball of energy for us,” said Middletown coach Jon Hoogendoorn, who also praised the play of Aden and Jorge Fonseca (seven points).
“Both played complete games for me, the first time this year,” Hoogendoorn said.
Will Chastain scored eight points for the Mustangs.
Lower Lake 49, St. Helena 46
At Lower Lake, behind 21 points and five 3-pointers from Hokulani Wickard, the host Trojans pushed back to the .500 mark in league play by beating St. Helena for the second time this season.
Michael Taliaferro added 13 points and Izzac Carver had eight for the Trojans (4-4, 8-12), who have been on something of a roller-coaster ride this season under head coach Tim Biasotti. Lower Lake won its first two league games, dropped the next four and has now won two straight to get back even in the NCL I standings.
Having a set starting lineup the last couple of weeks has certainly helped although the injury bug — not to mention the flu bug — has taken its toll. The Trojans lost guard Darian James to an ankle injury on Tuesday in a win over Fort Bragg and Taliaferro went down with an ankle injury late in the win over St. Helena.
“Hopefully we get one of those guys back by next week,” Biasotti said.
Lower Lake had its hands full with the Saints (2-6), who led by five points with three minutes remaining.
“We called a timeout and talked about remaining cool, keeping confidence in our offense and playing good defense,” Biasotti said.
The Trojans had the game tied less than 30 seconds later as Wickard hit a 3-pointer, then scored on a layup following a steal.
“From there we ended up pulling it out,” Biasotti said. “It was a good win.”
Biasotti said steady play from his defense prevented St. Helena from mounting any big runs.
“We played good defense the majority of the game,” he said.