POTTER VALLEY — Armando Martinez banged in a lean-in 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime, but the Hoopa Warriors rallied to win 80-78 Thursday night in the opening round of the Potter Valley Tournament.
Jameson Holder”s bid to win the game with a 3-pointer in the final seconds of overtime rimmed out as the Cardinals (3-2) and Warriors gave the fan”s their money”s worth, according to Clear Lake coach Ken Hook.
“The fan”s got their money”s worth, but the coach is hurting,” Hook said.
While the game took on the pace of a ping-pong match with its run-and-gun flavor, neither team played out of control, according to Hook.
“In terms of offense, in many ways this was our best game,” Hook said. “We ran well, we executed our plays. We made a lot of progress and I”m happy with it.
“Hoopa wasn”t out of control either,” Hook said. “They took shots they could make.”
With the game knotted at 72 late in the fourth quarter, Hoopa hit a 3-pointer to go up 75-72 with only seven seconds remaining.
Clear Lake was out of timeouts by that point, so Martinez took the inbounds pass, dribbled the length of the court and launched a 3-pointer to the right of the free-throw line and just behind the 3-point arc. The ball found only net, sending the game into overtime.
Holder”s bid to win the game in the final seconds of overtime just missed, according to Hook.
“He had a good look and it just rimmed out,” Hook said.
Martinez led the Cardinals with 24 points, Rawley Butler added 14 points and 10 rebounds, Ryan Richardson finished with 10 points, and Zane Butler had nine points and 10 rebounds.
Corning 46, Kelseyville 42
At Live Oak, the Kelseyville Knights had their chances in the fourth quarter but fell to Corning in the opening round of the Live Oak Tournament.
Mike Duman”s 2-footer missed the mark with 40 seconds remaining and the Knights trailing by two points. Kelseyville (1-1) was forced to foul at that point and Corning hit two free throws to go up by four.
“We”re still pretty inexperienced and that was the difference in the fourth quarter,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said. “And I did a lousy job on our last timeout getting our guys on the right guys.”
The Knights also struggled when Isaac McQueen, their top player, was off the floor.
“He got into foul trouble with some silly fouls and it hurt us not having him out there,” Conrad said. “We need him, he”s our guy.”
McQueen finished with only eight points.
Matt Jones scored 11 and Duman added 10 to lead the Knights.
El Molino 44, Lower Lake 40
At Healdsburg, the defense is there every night, but the Lower Lake Trojans have yet to find their offense and it certainly wasn”t there in a first-round loss to El Molino in the opening round of the Redwood Empire Invitational.
“We don”t get quality shots and when we do, we miss them,” Lower Lake coach Marty Udy said. “It”s frustrating because I feel we”re not playing anywhere near out potential right now.”
Lower Lake (2-3) led 10-4 after one quarter, but El Molino outscored the Trojans 17-3 in the second period to go up 21-13.
“We had all the opportunities in the world,” Udy said of the fourth quarter when the Trojans closed to within two points of the Lions but couldn”t overtake them.
Freeman and Deakins led the Trojans with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
College Prep 59, Upper Lake 46
At Upper Lake, College Prep pulled away in the second half to beat Upper Lake in the first round of the Upper Lake Tournament.
The Cougars (2-3) were done in by 32 turnovers.
“Overall we played real well in spurts, but we need to take care of the ball,” Upper Lake coach Forrest Stogner said.
Jayce Meri”s 12 points paced Upper Lake. Dalton Steptoe added nine points and 16 rebounds.
Healdsburg 69, Middletown 44
At Healdsburg, Healdsburg outscored Middletown 41-15 in the second half in a first-round game at the Redwood Empire Invitational.
“We suited up only seven players and they just wore us down with pressure,” Middletown coach Mike Mullin said.
Middletown (2-3) led 29-28 at halftime.
Tyler Hunt”s 21 points paced the Mustangs.
and Dylan Galusha added eigh tpoints.
