LAKEPORT — The Clear Lake Cardinals held off a fierce Willits charge down the stretch to beat the Wolverines 78-76 in a North Central League I interlock varsity boys” basketball thriller on Tuesday night in Lakeport.
Trailing by 10 points, Willits crept to within two of Clear Lake (6-8) late in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals missed a shot and Willits grabbed the rebound, but Tyler Beets stole the ball away. Kyle Donald was eventually fouled and he hit one of two free throws to give Clear Lake a 78-75 lead.
Willits made one of two free throws in the final seconds to make it a two-point game.
“The steal by Tyler was a huge play,” Clear Lake coach Glenn Wienke said. “He came up from behind the guy and took the ball away.”
Clear Lake outscored Willits 18-9 in the third quarter to open up a 56-48 lead entering the final period.
“We really came together as a team in the second half,” Wienke said. “We did play some good team basketball.”
Alternating Donald and Tanner Mansell at point guard, the Cardinals were able to create plenty of scoring opportunities, according to Wienke.
“They were driving inside and making a lot of things happen for us,” Wienke said.
Mansell finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead a balanced Clear Lake attack. Donald added 17, Adrian Perez had 16 and Steven Edwards 14, including 12 points in the second half.
The Cardinals trailed 39-38 at halftime.
