UPPER LAKE — Jacob Widener”s late scoring surge helped Upper Lake draw even after falling behind by eight late in the game, but the Potter Valley Bearcats went on to beat the Cougars 71-70 in the season opener for both of these varsity boys” basketball teams on Tuesday night in Upper Lake.
Widener, who scored seven of his team-leading 21 points in the final period, hit a 3-pointer to cut Potter Valley”s lead to 70-68 with under a minute to play. The Cougars” press defense then forced another turnover and Widener”s basket inside tied the score with 21 seconds left.
Potter Valley worked the ball inside in the final seconds and drew a two-shot foul with three seconds remaining. The Bearcats hit the first free throw to go up 71-70 and rebounded the second free throw, which was off the mark, before running out the clock.
It wasn”t the first time the Cougars (0-1) were hurt on the offensive boards during the game, according to head coach Forrest Stogner.
“We didn”t block out or rebound very well and we”ll need to improve at both,” Stogner said. “We will not see a team smaller than us the rest of the season so we have to get better at blocking out. That”s just a fact.”
Widener finished with a double-double that included 11 rebounds and he also had seven assists and six steals. Max Curtis finished with 16 points.
“This is a team I thought we should have beaten by 10,” Stogner said. “Inside we had our way with them even though they were bigger than us.”
Upper Lake”s shot selection at times also left something to be desired, according to Stogner, who said the team put up some ill-advised 3-pointers at the wrong times.
Upper Lake led 22-17 after one quarter and 35-32 at the intermission. Potter Valley rallied in the third quarter and led by one — 48-47 — entering the final period.
Kyle Coleman scored nine points in his varsity debut for Upper Lake while Quinn Womachka had six.
Widener had all three of Upper Lake”s 3-pointers.
Potter Valley also won the junior varsity game 55-49 behind 23 points from Dillon Gonzales, 12 from James Eubanks and six from Andrew O”Meara.
