LOWER LAKE — Only minutes before Thursday”s round of games tipped off in the 15th annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic tipped off at Lower Lake High School, the gym scoreboard went dead ? as in a doornail.
After trying a number of things to get it back online, all of which proved unsuccessful, Lower Lake athletic director Marty Udy rushed down to the local Radio Shack to obtain a new power cord, hoping (and praying) that the problem was only a malfunctioning cord and not something more serious. He replaced the cord, prepared to plug it in and crossed his fingers.
“You can”t believe the relief I felt when it turned on,” Udy said. “Here we have this new gym ready to open and I was thinking we weren”t going to have a scoreboard for the rest of the tournament in our old gym.”
The free-throw and 3-point contests took place Friday in the junior varsity and varsity divisions and the winners were Scott Zandt of Lower Lake (free throws) and Steven Edwards of Clear Lake (3-pointers) in the JV division and Nick Schaefer of Kelseyville (free throws) and Dillon Gonzales of Upper Lake (3-pointers) in the varsity division.
Zandt and Edwards automatically qualify for next year”s contest. All the winners received plaques.
Clear Lake”s Steven Edwards scored 31 points in a win over Kelseyville on Thursday to set the tournament”s single-game scoring record in the JV division. The old record was 28 by Lower Lake”s David Clark in 2006.
While Steven Edwards was having a great game, brother Brian, playing for the Clear Lake varsity, sustained a shoulder injury after taking a hard spill to the floor later that evening and had to leave the game.
For many of the juniors on the Clear Lake varsity team, the Cardinals” 73-57 loss to Kelseyville on Thursday was their first taste of defeat in the Hoop Classic. As freshmen and sophomores, they led the Cardinals to back-to-back JV titles in 2006 and 2007, both times with a 4-0 records. They also won their Hoop Classic varsity debut on Tuesday against Lower Lake.
