LOWER LAKE — The Kelseyville Knights Huffed and Huffed and didn”t even have to puff to blow down the Upper Lake Cougars” house, 63-52, in a varsity division game on Thursday at the 16th annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic in Lower Lake.
Max Huff, only a sophomore, scored 33 points in the first three quarters and finished with 35 — two shy of matching the varsity tournament record for most points in a single game — to lead the Knights to a second straight Hoop Classic win. Kelseyville, now 2-1, finishes up against Middletown (2-0) tonight in the late varsity game at 8:30 p.m. The Knights have a bye on Saturday, the final day of the tournament.
“I really had no clue how many he had other than he had a bunch,” Kelseyville coach Rich Facey said when asked if he knew how close Huff was to the tournament record for points in one game.
The Knights took a 55-35 lead into the final period and Huff played only two minutes, taking one shot and making it for his final two points of the game.
“He had a great game,” Facey said.
Indeed. Huff was 13-for-17 from the field and 9-for-12 from the free-throw line.
It was the second straight Hoop Classic game in which a Kelseyville player went over 30 points ? Peter Wotherspoon had 32 in a 71-70 overtime victory over Clear Lake on Tuesday.
Avenging a 67-50 loss to Upper Lake last weekend in the Upper Lake Tournament, the Knights rolled to a 25-8 first-quarter lead and were comfortably in front 41-20 by halftime.
“That”s what we wanted to do,” Facey said. “The kids were very determined.”
Huff scored 15 points in the first quarter and 25 in the first half.
The Knights sputtered briefly in the third quarter but bounced back late in the period, losing only a point off their halftime lead.
“What I was proud of was the mix of kids we had on the floor late in the third quarter and how well they did,” Facey said.
Wotherspoon and Steven Grossner finished with eight points apiece.
Tyler Warren”s 15 points powered the Cougars. Mike Cox added another nine and Billy Armstrong had eight.
In the late varsity game Thursday:
n Lower Lake 61
Clear Lake 60
With the Trojans in the double bonus late in the fourth quarter, Lower Lake”s Gage Carlson hit the second of two free throws with seconds remaining to snap a 60-all tie and send Clear Lake, the defending Hoop Classic champion, to its second straight one-point loss at this year”s tournament.
“One more basket in each game and we”re 2-0 instead of 0-2,” Clear Lake coach Glenn Wienke said. “Lower Lake played outstanding ball, especially in that third quarter when they hit a bunch of 3s (3-pointers).”
“We”re still in the running,” Lower Lake coach Marty Udy said of the possibility of the Trojans winning this year”s Hoop Classic title.
Bouncing back from an 80-52 loss to Middletown on Thursday, the Trojans improved to 2-1 in the tournament standings and 7-3 overall.
“It was a good rebound game for us,” Udy said. “Coming off our worst game of the year it was a chance to see how we would respond and I was pretty happy.”
After Carlson”s free throw gave Lower Lake a 61-60 lead, Clear Lake missed an off-balance shot as time expired.
“They had to rush it and they didn”t get a very good shot,” Udy said.
Jaymne Richardson (12 points) and Joe Taylor (10 points) each hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter as Lower Lake wiped out a 32-29 halftime deficit to move in front 50-46 entering the final period.
“They stepped up and hit some big shots,” Udy said.
Forrest Davis led the Trojans with 23 points, going 9-for-11 from the floor and 5-for-7 from the line. He also had 10 rebounds.
“He”s our backbone,” Udy said. “We rely on him for a lot of things.”
Ryan Richardson”s 21 points led the Cardinals and pushed the senior to within four of 1,000 for his career. Seth Glazier added 15 points and Jason Edwards had 11.
“That might be the biggest offensive production I think we”ve had from him since I”ve been coach,” Wienke said of Glazier.
