PETALUMA — Clear Lake held a 32-31 halftime lead and while that might not sound like a big deal, consider that the Cardinals” opponent on Friday night was none other than the powerful Cloverdale Eagles in the championship game of the North Central League I South boys” basketball tournament at St. Vincent High School.
Cloverdale rallied in the second half to win 67-63 and improve to 24-2 on the season. The South regular-season champions will be among the top five seeds when the North Coast Section Division IV playoff field is released Sunday.
While the Eagles ended up victorious, senior Ryan Richardson had a historic night on at least a couple of counts for Clear Lake (13-15) as he scored 33 points. Included in that total were nine 3-pointers, which is most likely a school record for most treys in a single game. He also went over 600 points for the second straight season, something no other Lake County player has done — he now has 633, the third-best season total in the county”s history (see graphic at right).
Former Clear Lake star Jenny Schaal holds the county record for most points in a season (710) and she is also the school”s career scoring leader at 1,485. Richardson isn”t far behind at 1,443.
Clear Lake coach Glenn Wienke likes the Cardinals” chances of securing an at-large berth in this year”s Division IV field, which means Richardson should have at least one more game to add to his impressive totals.
“We”re in, it”s just a matter of where we”ll be seeded (in the 16-team field),” Wienke said. “Probably in the 12-13 range.”
Clear Lake”s success in slowing down the Eagles rested squarely on a defense that limited the Redwood Empire”s all-time career scoring leader, Robby Rowland, to just five points in the first half and just 17 overall.
“When you hold a guy like that to five points, you”re doing something right,” Wienke said.
Rowland did help rally the Eagles in the second half.
“He had two huge (offensive) rebounds at the end of the third quarter and late in the fourth quarter that ended up as putbacks,” Wienke said. “We also made a couple of key turnovers in the fourth quarter that hurt us.”
Richardson, who scored a career-best 45 points in a game earlier this season, had the best shooting night of his career, according to Wienke.
“In the 45-point game he scored a lot of points in the paint, but tonight he was hitting from the outside,” Wienke said. “He shot the best I”ve ever seen him shoot from the outside. He was more than on fire.”
Ryan Grady also turned in a strong performance for the Cardinals with 17 points.
“He played really, really well and I was proud of Ryan Grady,” Wienke said.
Jerod Domenichelli”s 20 points paced Clov-erdale.
