LOWER LAKE — Rolling, rolling, rolling ? or in Cloverdale”s case ? Rowland, Rowland, Rowland ? was pretty much the story line on Tuesday as the Eagles worked over the Lower Lake Trojans 68-44 in a North Central League I interlock varsity boys” basketball game at Lower Lake.
Robbie Rowland scored 29 points and Jerod Domenichelli added 25 as the Eagles improved to 13-2 on the season. They led only 16-13 after one period but outscored the Trojans (9-5) by a 42-11 margin over the next two quarters.
“They know they”re eventually going to open it up and they did,” Lower Lake coach Marty Udy said of the Eagles. “Rowland is so active around the basket. He and Domenichelli put a lot of pressure on your defense and force you to foul them.”
The Eagles were a combined 13-for-15 from the free-throw line during the middle quarters.
Gage Carlson led the Trojans with 20 points and was the only Lower Lake player to score more than five.
Clear Lake 47, Middletown 22
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals held Middletown to two points in the first quarter and two points in the third quarter while beating the Mustangs for the first time in three tries this season.
“I”m ecstatic,” Clear Lake coach Glenn Wienke said. “These guys were fired up. It was payback time. We played outstanding team ball.”
Clear Lake led 9-2 after one quarter and 23-13 at halftime.
“Seth Glazier made a monster block in the third quarter ? it was a momentum-turning block,” Wienke said. “He played the best game I”ve seen him play this season.”
Jason Edwards” 10 points led a balanced Clear Lake attack that also featured nine points from Ryan Richardson and Tanner Mansell and another eight from Glazier.
“You hold their top scorer (Richardson) to nine points and you have to feel pretty good about that,” Middletown coach Mike Mullin said. “We played well on defense but we weren”t in sync from the tip (on offense). We couldn”t run our offense.”
“Ryan played very, very unselfish basketball tonight,” Wienke said. “We asked him to do it and he did.”
John Hays” nine points paced the Mustangs (6-7).
Clear Lake improved to 4-11.
Upper Lake 56, Kelseyville 53
At Kelseyville, Billy Armstrong scored a season-high 21 points and teammate Mike Cox added a season-high 19 as the Upper Lake Cougars beat the Kelseyville Knights for the second time in three tries this season.
“We played good defense and took care of the ball,” Upper Lake coach Forrest Stogner said. “But it was defense that won the game for us.”
Armstrong”s final point of the night, the front end of a one-and-one with just seconds to play, gave the Cougars a 56-53 lead. The Knights set up for a 3-pointer but mishandled the ball in the closing seconds.
“We ended up throwing the ball in desperation (at the buzzer),” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said.
Max Huff scored 19 points to lead the Knights (6-6) and Peter Wotherspoon added 18. Kelseyville was without starter Steven Grossner, who underwent wrist surgery last month.
“We”re hoping to get him back before the season is over,” Conrad said.
Cox had 15 rebounds to go along with his 19 points, and Tyler Warren added eight points and 10 rebounds as the Cou-gars improved to 4-9.
JV basketball
Middletown 51, Clear Lake 22
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals scored only 10 points after the first quarter and lost to the Middletown Mustangs in NCL I interlock action.
“Defense wasn”t a problem,” Clear Lake coach Jeremy Hopkins said. “We actually shut them down for a while. We just couldn”t get the ball to go in the basket.”
Nick Delia”s 12 points paced the Mustangs, who have lost only once this season. Blaine Amos added nine as Middletown opened up a 27-14 halftime lead.
Nick Carley and Adrian Perez scored nine points apiece for the Cardinals (7-8).
