KELSEYVILLE — Wins have been hard to come by for the Kelseyville High School varsity boys” basketball team and first-year coach Scott Conrad this season, but on Saturday night the Knights detoured into victory lane.
“That was fun to see,” Conrad said of the Knights” 62-48 North Central League I interlock victory over the visiting St. Helena Saints. “Hopefully we”ve jumped over that mental hurdle.”
The win was only the second of the 2006-07 campaign for the Knights (2-15) and their first at home. It snapped a five-game losing streak dating back to Jan. 2, when Kelseyville won its first game, 69-44 at Upper Lake, to snap a season-opening 10-game skid.
Kelseyville built a 19-point third-quarter lead against the Saints only to watch it all slip away.
“They got it all back and went up by one or two,” Conrad said. “I called my fourth timeout (of the game) with two minutes left in the third quarter, not to talk about Xs and Os, but I told them they need to get out of their heads the thought that we”re not supposed to win.
“And they responded,” Conrad added.
Kelseyville fought back to take a 43-39 lead by the end of the period and then dominated the fourth quarter, led by the play of seniors Wes Stevenson and Joe Gatlyn.
“They took over the game defensively, had some nice stops, and also got some buckets down the stretch that were pretty big,” Conrad said.
Kelseyville”s balanced scoring — four players finished in double figures and a fifth just missed — was a welcome sight for Conrad, who has had just one consistent double-digit scorer all season, junior Isaac McQueen, who led the Knights with 20 points. Stevenson added 12, sophomores Nick Schaefer and Mike Duman each had 10 and Gatlyn finished with nine.
“The two sophomore kids were tough early and the senior kids were tough late,” Conrad said. “Our seniors have worked hard all season long for not much reward. It would be easy for them to throw up their hands, but they haven”t done that.
“Hopefully our expectations are a little higher now,” Conrad added.
McQueen also led the Knights with 10 rebounds, Gatlyn had eight and Stevenson and Schaefer had five steals apiece.
Kelseyville resumes its NCL I North schedule tonight in Lower Lake. Junior varsity action tips off at 5:30 p.m.
