PETALUMA –Trailing 17-0 in the first quarter, the Clear Lake Cardinals and coach Glenn Wienke kept their sense of humor Thursday night against host St. Vincent in a first-round boys” game of the North Central League I South basketball tournament at St. Vincent High School.
“After we scored our first two points I called a timeout and told them, ?We”ve got ”em now,”” Wienke said.
Turns out he was right.
Clear Lake overcame a 20-5 first-quarter deficit to beat the Mustangs 58-57 and earn a berth in tonight”s finals against South regular-season champion Cloverdale at 8 p.m.
Ryan Grady hit four free throws in a span of nine seconds for the Cardinals (13-14) to snap a 54-all tie. He sank both ends of a one-and-one with 14 seconds left to put Clear Lake ahead to stay and added two more with 5.6 seconds remaining — following a St. Vincent turnover — to give the Cardinals all the cushion they needed.
Michael Meiswinkel”s fourth 3-pointer of the game cut the margin to one before time expired. Meiswinkel led St. Vincent with 30 points.
Clear Lake and St. Vincent tied for second place in the South standings this season, each team prevailing on its home floor. The Cardinals won the rubber match on Thursday and will apply for an at-large berth in next week”s North Coast Section Division IV playoffs.
“We haven”t won here in years,” Wienke said.
Ryan Richardson”s 25 points, including four 3-pointers, paced the Cardinals. The senior now has 599 points on the season and his first point in tonight”s game against Cloverdale will give him 600 for the second straight year, a feat no other Lake County player has accomplished. He also went over 1,400 points (1,410) for his career, only the sixth county player to reach that milestone. The school record is 1,485.
Clear Lake point guard Jason Edwards also played a major role in the victory with 11 points and 11 assists.
“He was doing his job,” Wienke said.
