LOWER LAKE — Clear Lake stepped out of the frying pan on Friday night against Kelseyville and will step into the fire in a rematch of last year”s final game against Middletown tonight in the championship round of the 13th annual Record-Bee Classic.
As Clear Lake coach Ken Hook said following the Cardinals” 50-39 victory over the Knights, the game matching Clear Lake and Middletown, both 3-0 in the Classic, “It will be a barn burner.”
The Cardinals did their part to make it that by closing out Kelseyville on Friday night in a game-ending 13-2 run.
But that was only after playing a quarter in which Cards all but fried themselves.
“We missed a lot of shots in the third quarter,” Hook said.
And that was true when the Cards held on to the ball long enough to shoot it. They went one for 12 from the floor. But they also turned the ball over nine times in the period. In spite of all that, they still managed to end the quarter only two points down (33-31) to the Knights.
But this was a game that took inexplicable turns for Clear Lake. In the quarter preceding their terrible third, they meshed seven straight shots and eight of 11 to go to the locker room up 28-21.
But the second-quarter brilliance followed a first quarter the Cardinals played with a general malaise, turning the ball over seven times in that one.
“I think we played a little out of control, but they played great and aggressive defense. That bothered us,” said Hook, who added that he would not classify this as one of Clear Lake”s better games.
The Knights suffered the loss of their big man, Isaac McQueen, to foul trouble and that proved too much to overcome.
In the long run, though, the machinery that the Cards have used to advance to a 6-2 overall record functioned effectively. Their front line of Brandon White, Agustin Perez and Kory Hook combined for 25 points and Armando Martinez, their shooting guard, led everyone with 15.
Hook avoided any talk about retribution tonight for Clear Lake against Middletown, which won last year”s game for the Classic championship and used that momentum to fuel a 20-win season.
“Let”s just say they”ll be waiting for us,” he said.
In the early varsity game on Friday:
Middletown 74, Upper Lake 50
The Middletown Mustangs were all business and deadly efficient in the first quarter, jumping out to a 27-6 lead en route to an easy win over the Upper Lake Cougars.
Middletown”s win sets up a title rematch in tonight”s championship game when the Mustangs put their 3-0 tournament record up against Clear Lake”s 3-0 mark at 6 p.m.
Jake Strickler, who led all scorers with 26 points, scored nine of those in the opening period and Tyler Hunt (23 points ) added six more as Middletown built a commanding lead by shooting nearly 50 percent from the field.
Upper Lake, which closed out its tournament run at 1-3, hit just 2 of 21 shots from the field in the first quarter and never recovered.
“He started the year shooting poorly but we knew it was only a matter of time,” Middletown coach Mike Mullin said of Strickler, who was coming off a 25-point performance on Thursday in a win over Lower Lake. “We know he can shoot the ball and he”s starting to come around.”
Middletown cooled off a bit in the second quarter but still led 40-17 at halftime. The Mustangs heated up from the field again in the third quarter, hitting half of their 14 shots from the field, to move out to a 58-29 lead.
A ragged fourth quarter full of fouls saw the Cougars close the gap but the Mustangs were never in any trouble.
Hunt and Upper Lake”s Max Curtis, who finished with 17 points, both fouled out late in the game. Jayce Meri also scored 17 points for Upper Lake.
Brandon Breeden added 13 points to Middletown”s side of the ledger.
“Each game we feel like we”re improving,” Mullin said.
