RICHMOND — The Clear Lake Cardinals didn”t back down a single step but were no match for No. 1 seed Salesian on Wednesday night in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division IV boys” basketball playoffs in Richmond.
“No one was intimidated,” Clear Lake coach Glenn Wienke said of the Cardinals” 88-47 loss. “We left everything on the court.”
Salesian (28-1), the defending state champion, scored the game”s first 12 points before Seth Glazier got the Cardinals (13-16) on the board with a free throw. Clear Lake trailed by only 10 midway through the second quarter before the Pride went on a run, extending its lead to 45-24 by halftime.
“Salesian is a well-disciplined team, very quick and disruptive,” Wienke said. “We played tough, but we turned the ball over too much.”
Salesian extended its lead to 65-36 after three quarters. The Pride will play Healdsburg in the quarterfinal round on Saturday.
Clear Lake”s Ryan Richardson scored a team-high 20 points in the final game of his high school career, giving him 1,463, which is fifth on the list of Lake County”s all-time scoring leaders. He scored 652 points this season, the second-highest single-season total in county history.
“I”m going to miss the seniors,” Wienke said “They mean a lot to me.”
Ryan Grady, another senior, added eight points.
“We got to get the sophomore and juniors into the game and it was good experience for them,” Wienke said.
Clear Lake was the No. 16 seed in the 16-team field after tying St. Vincent for second place in the North Central League I South standings.
“We”re in good spirits,” Wienke said as the team headed home. “It”s time to move on to other things.”
