Rob Grant & Brian Sumpter — Record-Bee staff
LOWER LAKE — Forget the sailboats and the outboards on Clear Lake. An “aircraft carrier” has steamed into Lower Lake this year in the style of a Shaq O”Neal. He is Forrest Davis, a senior center who on Monday got the Trojans off to a fast start in the 16th annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic in his homeport.
On Monday night, Davis scored 23 points ? 17 in the second half ? leading the way to a 65-49 victory. Most of his scoring came from underneath the basket, which Davis kind of calls home as evidenced by a third straight game in which he dominated the boards with 19 rebounds. A lot of the boards turned into second-chance points, more than a few off his own shots.
Given his bulk, no one can really occupy the underside of a basket with him. He is a crowd by himself.
“He”s got a knack for the ball, rebounding-wise,” said Trojan coach Marty Udy. “But he”s also got incredibly soft hands ? the softest hands of any big man I”ve ever coached.” Which accounts for Davis” shooting accuracy.
On the strength of Davis and the Lower Lake guards” ability to penetrate ? particularly Gage Carlson, who had 13 points ? the Trojans coasted to a sixth win in eight games. Before running away with the game in the fourth quarter, Kelseyville remained close. The lead changed hands twice and Kelseyville stayed within hailing distance until the fourth quarter when Lower Lake went on a 15-4 game-ending run to stretch what had been a 48-45 lead.
The Knights scored only two field goals in the last six minutes of the game.
“We weren”t sharp, we”ve been playing a lot of games,” Udy said almost apologetically. “Four games in five days, but we started playing better in the second half. Our fastbreaks were infrequent in the early going; the second half we started opening up a little bit.”
Max Huff, a sophomore talent at forward, and slashing guard Peter Wotherspoon kept the Knights close for as long as possible, each scoring 17.
Davis looks like he would be more attuned to football than basketball ? that is until he starts staking out his face on a basketball court. He is 6-foot-2 and one would guess in the 280-pound range. But football is a sport he doesn”t play.
“This is my game,” Davis said. “If I played football, I”d be the best offensive tackle you”ve ever seen.”
In the early varsity game Monday:
n Middletown 64
Upper Lake 32
Following a sluggish first half, the Middletown Mustangs exploded for 28 points in the third quarter as they rolled past the Upper Lake Cougars in first-round varsity action at the Hoop Classic.
Senior guard John Hays scored 13 of his 16 points in the third quarter, including three 3-pointers, to get Middletown”s offense back on track. The Mustangs converted 10 of 16 shots from the field in the period after going just 8-for-21 during a 19-point first half.
“That”s the way it”s been going for us this season,” Middletown coach Mike Mullin said of his team”s slow start in games. “We didn”t have a lot of energy and we were missing layups. We weren”t really running our offense, it was one pass and shoot.”
A more patient Middletown team, sparked by Hays in the second half, had a 47-26 lead by the end of the third quarter.
“Hays works hard. That”s four years of experience out there,” Mullin said.
While Hays provided the bulk of Middletown”s offense in the third quarter, Bo Sheffer dominated the fourth quarter for the Mustangs. He scored his team”s first 10 points in the period and had 12 of his team-leading 18 points in the quarter.
Sheffer, a star on Middletown”s 20-0 JV squad last season, has blended in well with such veterans as Hays and Kyle Harmyk, according to Mullin.
“He fits right in and so do the other JVs who moved up,” Mullin said. “It”s a good group, no animosity at all.”
John-Wesley Davis added eight points and Jereomy Hoefer had six for Middletown.
Mike Cox”s 10 points led a Cougars team minus two key starters ? Andrew O”Meara and Nick Palomo. Both missed the game with the flu, according to Upper Lake coach Forrest Stogner.
Nick Schell had seven points and Brandon Bills six for the Cougars.
The score was tied at 6 after one quarter.
