KELSEYVILLE — Tournament MVP Robby Rowland scored 18 of his team-high 35 points in the third quarter as the Cloverdale Eagles ran away from the Kelseyville Knights, 77-55, to claim the Stokes Tournament championship title on Saturday night at Kelseyville High School.
“They have a lot of guys to stop,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said of the Eagles, who rolled past three straight opponents to take this year”s Stokes crown. “If you give him (Rowland) too much att-ention, other guys hurt you.”
Casey Berry scored 10 points and Orlando Berrigan and Jerod Domenichelli each had nine for the Eagles, who led 20-13 after one quarter.
“We probably came out too aggressive on defense,” Conrad said of the Knights, who ran into some foul trouble late in the second quarter and had to sit down big men Mike Allen, Max Huff and Steven Grossner.
Using their press defense to go on a run, the Eagles built as much as a 15-point lead before Mike Davis” 3-pointer right before halftime cut Cloverdale”s lead to 44-32.
“We were trying to weather the storm and get through until the second half,” Conrad said.
The Eagles dominated from the get-go in the second half and led 68-45 by the end of the third quarter. Rowland made eight of Cloverdale”s 11 baskets in the period, including a 3-pointer.
The Knights tried to slow down Rowland with a box-and-one with minimal effect.
“As soon as we did some of their other guys hit some big baskets,” Conrad said. “They just have too many weapons.”
Domenichelli and Beau Gastineau joined Rowland on the All-Tournament team.
Another All-Tournament selection, Peter Wotherspoon, scored 17 points to pace the Knights. Huff finished with 12 points and Davis had 10. Grossner (four points) also received All-Tourney honors.
“It was mostly a positive for us,” Conrad said of the Knights” 1-1 record at the Stokes (they had a first-round bye). “We took a lot of confidence out of the tournament.”
In other Stokes action Saturday:
Third place
Mesa Verde”s Andre Jenkins scored 19 of his 27 points in the first half to lead the Citrus Heights team past Piedmont 74-61 in the third-place game.
Piedmont rallied from a 40-27 halftime deficit, closing to 50-49 after three quarters, but Jenkins sparked a 24-point Mesa Verde fourth quarter with two 3-pointers.
Ryan Staten”s 18 points led Piedmont.
Consolation title
Even with several of its players still involved in the North Coast Section football playoffs, Justin-Siena closed out a 2-1 tourney run by beating Capuchino 60-54 in the consolation title game.
Dustin Mertens led the Braves with 25 points, hitting 10 of 11 free throws. Adrian Macareag”s 11 points paced Capuchino.
Seventh place
Clear Lake dominated Round Valley 74-41 in the seventh-place game. Ryan Richardson led the Cardinals (2-2) with 19 points and John Glazier added 14.
“We worked a lot of little stuff and a lot of the little stuff worked for us,” Clear Lake coach Glenn Wienke said. “The transition game was also working for us.”
