BOONVILLE — Despite a hiccup in the second quarter, the Upper Lake Cougars parlayed a strong effort by their defense into a 39-34 win over Mendocino in first-round action at the Redwood Classic on Wednesday afternoon in Boonville.
“We must have missed eight gimmes under the basket,” Upper Lake coach Forrest Stogner said of the Cougars” two-point second quarter. “But we played real good defense I thought.”
Even with Upper Lake”s struggles on offense late in the first half, the Cougars” defense eased the blow as the Cardinals scored just eight points in the second quarter to pull even at 16-16 by halftime.
The Cougars (2-0) took a 29-25 lead into the fourth quarter and held off the Cardinals down the stretch. Upper Lake will play the winner of Wednesday”s opener between Branson vs. South Fork on Friday at 3:30 p.m. The tourney runs through Saturday.
Tyler Warren”s 12 points sparked the Cougars to their second win of the season.
“Warren played the best game I”ve ever seen the kid play in his life,” Stogner said. “He did an excellent job on both ends of the court.”
Nick Schell added six points and Andrew O”Meara had four points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Mike Dawson added five points and a team-best seven assists.
The Cou-gars host a four-team tourney for varsity and JV boys” teams on Dec. 10-12. Also competing are Kelseyville, Anderson Valley and College Prep.
