LAKEPORT — In a game that had more heroes than the Odyssey and more twists and turns than an Alfred Hitchcock movie classic, it was Clear Lake High School senior guard Jameson Holder who saved the day for the Cardinals ? twice.
Holder made back-to-back do-or-die 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds of regulation to get Clear Lake into overtime against the Middletown Mustangs, and teammates Ryan Richardson, Armando Martinez and Tyler Glazier took it from there to lift the Cardinals to a dramatic 87-83 overtime victory over the Mustangs on Thursday night at the 14th annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic in Lakeport.
Richardson, Martinez and Glazier combined to score 16 of Clear Lake”s 17 points in overtime. Richardson”s driving layup with a little more than two minutes left in the extra period put the Cardinals ahead to stay at 79-77 and they went up by as many as five points before the Mustangs came storming back.
Middletown closed to 82-81 on the third 3-pointer of the night by Tyler Hunt (31 points), but the Cardinals held off the Mustangs by hitting a series of free throws down the stretch, the two biggest by Glazier with 11.4 seconds remaining to make it 86-81.
“We”ve played three close games this season and that”s the first one we”ve won,” Clear Lake coach Ken Hook said. “That was a great game.”
“To do that on their home court, that”s great experience for our young guys,” Middletown coach Mike Mullin said. “We”ve won two games this season, but I”ll tell you, I”ll take that game over either of our wins. We”re steadily improving even if our record (2-7) doesn”t show it.
“I”m really proud of the way they battled tonight,” Mullin added. “They never gave up.”
Clear Lake led 15-4 late in the first quarter but Middletown”s shooters were just getting warmed up. The Mustangs closed to 32-23 by halftime and finally went ahead — for the first time — on a Dylan Galusha basket with 22.6 seconds left in the third quarter to make it 49-48. Clear Lake”s Rawley Butler hit a shot right before the buzzer to put the Cardinals back on top 50-49.
The two teams were within four points of each other most of the fourth quarter. Middletown pushed ahead 65-64 on a John Hays basket with 1:33 left and Hays” 3-pointer with 1:05 remaining made it 68-64.
Hunt sank a pair of free throws ` with 30.2 seconds left to give the Mustangs their biggest lead of the game at 70-64 but Holder answered with a clutch 3-pointer just a few seconds later to make it 70-67.
Hunt missed the front end of a one-and-one with 20.4 seconds left and the Cardinals called a timeout with 11.5 seconds remaining to set up a final play.
“We wanted to spread them out, penetrate and then kick the ball back out to whoever was open,” Hook said. “We needed a 3-pointer.”
That person turned out to be Holder, who had a defender close by as the final seconds ticked off the clock. He pulled up and shot the ball, which swished through the net to knot the score at 70.
“He hit a tough shot,” Mullin said. “If he doesn”t make it, we win. But he got a good look deep and hit it.”
“No, I didn”t think it was over,” Hook said of the Cardinals” comeback in the final secons of regulation. “There was enough time.”
Martinez, Richard-son and Holder all finished with 18 points as Clear Lake improved to 2-1 in the tournament standings and 6-3 overall. Glazier added 12 points.
“I thought Glazier and Richardson played well,” Hook said of two of his top reserves. “And Noel McCormack did a nice job when he was in there,” Hook added of his junior guard, another reserve player.
Hook saved his highest praise for Holder, who was a bit under the weather prior to the game.
“You have to give him credit. He was feeling sick but he made those clutch shots,” Hook said. “They were great.”
While Hunt was burning it up for 31 points to lead the Mustangs, Dustin Peterson added 15 and Hays and Johnny Harmyk each added 11.
“Five ate us up,” Hook said of Peterson, who wears that number. “We knew we had to double Hunt and make those other guys hit shots, and they did. “We couldn”t stop him (Peterson).”
Mullin said both Peterson and Hays, who is only a sophomore, came up big.
“We”ve been getting shots but we haven”t been knocking them down until tonight,” Mullin said. “It”s an encouraging sign.”
Middletown, the two-time defending Hoop Classic champion, fell to 0-2 in the tournament standings with games remaining tonight against Upper Lake (0-3) and Saturday against Lower Lake (2-0).
Lower Lake 65, Upper Lake 44
You”ve heard it over and over again: It ain”t over ”til it”s over.
But after Lower Lake and Kelseyville, the last two unbeaten teams in the five-team Record-Bee Hoop Classic, collide tonight, this year”s tournament could be, uh, well ? over. At least insofar as establishing a champion for the 14th annual R-B tournament it could be.
Even though the Classic doesn”t officially end until Saturday night when the last two games will be played, it”s a near-certainty that tonight”s battle between the Trojans and Knights will be the classic game in the Classic and give one team a leg up on the title.
Who”ll win?
One person who could speak knowledgeably on that issue in the Clear Lake High School gym, site of this year”s Classic, on Thursday night was Upper Lake coach Forrest Stogner, whose outsized Cougars had just been defeated by Lower Lake, 65-44.
Earlier in the week, the Cougars were beaten rather soundly by Kelseyville, too, which put Stogner in the position of comparing the two teams. Which was something he was reluctant to do because of his respect for his rival coaches.
Finally, though, Stogner confided, “I like Lower Lake. They”re big and tough physically and can shoot outside and inside. But,” he cautioned, “Kelsyville”s got (Isaac) McQueen.”
McQueen scored 22 points in the Knights” victory over Middletown earlier in the week.
Looking back on a loss to Kelseyville in which the Cougars were held to a tournament-record-low 24 points, Stogner added, “We played really terrible against Kelseyville. So, it”s hard to base my judgment on that.”
Told that someone who could speak authoritatively on the issue favored his Trojans in tonight”s showdown, Lower Lake coach Marty Udy responded: “I don”t think much about favorites. Kelseyville has a lot of wins this year (five against one loss). I think they”re confident. Somebody will have to play good to beat them. We are not overlooking them. It will be a good game, I think.”
Udy admitted that the Trojans, now 5-4 on the season, played like a team that was looking ahead and wasn”t concentrating on matters at hand against Upper Lake. For example, closing out the third quarter, they turned the ball over six straight times. Their superior height, though, was a factor as it kept Upper Lake, which has only one player over 6 feet, at bay. An example of that was the basket that gave them their 49th and 50th points. The Trojans toyed with the rebounds like in a game of keepaway — putting up five putbacks before Mike Deakins put it away.
Kevin Freeman again led the Trojans with 21 points, giving him 41 in two games for the tournament. A.J. Harris had 14 and David Clark came off the bench to score 10.
Stogner liked the Cougars” second-half effort, which saw them outscoring Lower Lake for the half until well into the fourth quarter.
“We had a good spark off our bench when Ricky Medina and the two Gonzales boys (Dillon and Cory) came in,” he said.
Brandon Mendoza led Upper Lake scoring with 10.
Udy”s all-encompassing word for his team”s performance was “sluggish.”
“Sometimes it”s just not there and other times it”s there for 32 minutes,” he said. “That”s basketball.”
“Maybe we looked a little bit ahead,” Udy added. “I talked to them about it. We can”t do that.”
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