HEALDSBURG –? Ahead by as many as five points late in the first quarter, the Lower Lake Trojans couldn”t stand up to Healdsburg”s man-to-man pressure defense and fell 68-43 to the Greyhounds on Thursday night during a first-round game in the Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament (REIBT) at Smith Robinson Gym in Healdsburg.
“I thought we played a respectable first quarter,” Lower Lake coach Marty Udy said. “But they”re a physical team and play solid defense and we lost our composure in the second half.”
Healdsburg took a 27-18 lead into halftime and pulled away iwith a 20-8 third-quarter burst.
While the Trojans (3-2) took care of the basketball (only 10 turnovers), they couldn”t find the range from the field, whether it was two-point or 3-point range.
“Poor shooting all the way around,” Udy said of the Trojans” 18-for-76 night.
Forrest Davis led the Trojans with 11 points, Gage Carlson added 10 and Scott Zandt had eight.
“In the long run a game like this will help out in a lot of ways,” Udy said. “The pressure we saw will make us better. We really had to work to get the ball into the post. When you get in a situation like that, I think it will make you a better team down the road.”
Lower Lake plays Clear Lake in a consolation semifinal tonight at 7 p.m.
In other boys” action Thursday:
Maria Carrillo 63, Clear Lake 59
At Healdsburg, Ryan Richardson led the way with 23 points, including career point No. 900, but the Clear Lake Cardinals fell to the Maria Carrillo Pumas of Santa Rosa in first-round play at the REIBT.
Clear Lake (2-4) trailed by as many as nine points midway through the third quarter but battled back to tie the game with four minutes remaining.
“We played them really tough,” Clear Lake coach Glenn Wienke said. “Ryan Grady stepped up tonight … he stepped up big.”
Grady, the Cardinals” senior center, scored 15 points and led the team with three 3-pointers.
Brothers Seth and John Glazier added seven points apiece for Clear Lake.
Richardson, now in his third year of varsity ball, has 917 points. At his current pace the senior will reach 1,000 next week during the 16th annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic in Lower Lake.
Moreau Catholic 67, Middletown 36
At Healdsburg, Middletown fell to Moreau Catholic of Hayward in a first-round game at the REIBT, one of the oldest basketball tournaments in Northern California.
“The kids are playing hard, but we”re just not in sync right now,” Middletown coach Mike Mullin said. “We”re not making shots and we”re making some defensive mistakes. One good game is all it”s going to take to get us going.”
Moreau Catholic led 16-8 after one quarter and 37-20 by halftime.
John-Wesley Davis” 12 points paced the Mustangs (1-3), who play Justin-Siena today at 4 p.m. in a consolation semifinal game. Bo Sheffer added eight points and John Hays had seven. Davis and Sheffer each had two 3-pointers.
