KELSEYVILLE — Not even Josiah Nikkel could stop the Kelseyville Knights from picking up their first win of the season on Friday during a varsity boys” consolation semifinal game at the 37th annual Stokes Basketball Tournament in Kelseyville.
Nikkel scored a team-high 29 points in Roseland Prep”s 69-56 loss to Kelseyville. The Knights (1-2) advance to today”s consolation championship game against Healdsburg at 1:30 p.m.
“I wasn”t very happy with how we played defense against him,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said of Nikkel, “but I was happy to get our first win.”
Kelseyville led 18-8 after one quarter but had trouble maintaining its intensity and focus at different points in the game, according to Conrad.
Kelseyville received a big lift off the bench in the second half from Hipolito Perez, who scored nine of his 12 points the final two quarters.
Steven Grossner and Peter Wotherspoon also had 12 points for Kelseyville.
In other boys” action Friday:
Healdsburg 56, Clear Lake 53
In a game where the two teams were never separated by more than three points, the Healdsburg Greyhounds hit two crucial free throws down the stretch to hold off the Clear Lake Cardinals in a consolation semifinal.
While the Greyhounds hit two of four free throws in the final seconds, Clear Lake went 0-for-2 at the line.
“Turnovers and missed free throws were the difference,” Clear Lake coach Glenn Wienke said. “We played them tight the whole game.”
Ryan Richardson”s 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists paced the Cardinals (1-2). Corey Dillon added 10 points, six rebounds and four assists.
In girls” action Friday:
Kelseyville 64, Tulelake 25
Skyler Olsen scored 16 points and Amanda Mueller had 13 as the Kelseyville varsity girls beat Tulelake for their first win of the season.
Kelseyville (1-2) outscored Tulelake 36-7 in the second half.
“In the second half they stepped it up,” Kelseyville coach Caitlin Andrus said of her players. “We wanted to fast break and we did a better job with that.”
Olsen had just four points at halftime and was struggling, according to Andrus.
“I told her to focus on just defense and she had all five of her steals in the second half,” Andrus said. “Interestingly enough it made her offense come around.”
Olsen scored 12 points over the final two quarters.
Ty Van Housen added eight points and nine rebounds and Ashley Mueller also had nine rebounds. Olsen and Sarah Johnson had seven apiece.
The Knights face Piedmont, 2-0 in Stokes action, tonight at 6 p.m. in the final round. See video highlights of Tulelake game on Record-Bee home page on Record-Bee Video online.
