KELSEYVILLE — The Kelseyville Knights held their position in the three-way tie at the top of the North Central League I varsity boys” basketball standings on Friday night with a Dustin Thaxton-led late surge that propelled them to a 60-48 victory over a never-say-die Cloverdale team.
But if the Knights are to bring home a championship, they”ll have to win it in someone else”s home ? namely the home courts of Middletown and Clear Lake, whom they meet in their final four games.
And that will be a severe test of the first order in a league in which the home team has a decided advantage. So far, the home team among the top four teams (Kelseyville, Middletown, St. Helena and Clear Lake) has won 17 of 19 times. The battle for the league lead has been that tenuous.
“It”s tough to play on the road in this league, definitely,” said Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad. “I tell my players they have to be 10 points better to win on the road.”
Home court or not, on Friday night, the Knights found Cloverdale to be difficult to dispose of, especially during a first half in which the Eagles played eyeball to eyeball, taking the lead three times before the Knights went to the locker room with a 26-24 lead. In the second half Kelseyville mounted a seven-point lead on three occasions only to see it evaporate.
Kelseyville didn”t exert the upper hand until three minutes remained. They did it by outscoring the Eagles 13-4 in that spate of time, and they have shooting guard Dustin Thaxton to thank for it. Thaxton, who is prone to have a hot hand when needed, went on a scoring rampage, scoring 11 of the 13, including two 3-pointers that were dead on target.
Conrad pronounced the Eagles “much imp-roved … they wouldn”t go away. We”re lucky Thaxton got hot at the right time.”
Indeed. Thaxton concluded the night with 19 points and four treys as the Knights improved their league record to 8-2 and nothched their 17th win overall, one more than last year”s team won (16-10). Cloverdale is 4-6 in the NCL I and 10-12 overall.
Conrad also praised Max Huff, who had 16 points and 15 rebounds, including three offensive boards. Huff also had one of his signature slams that always wow the patrons, stealing the ball and going coast-to-coast.
“I thought Max had a great game, but I don”t think we got him the ball enough inside,” said Conrad.
An undersung Devon Call matched Thaxton”s four 3-pointers from the perimeter and concluded the night with 16 points as well.
Even so, the exceptional performance of the Kelseyville triumvurate was offet by a first half that lacked in luster. At one point in the first quarter, the Knights went 0-for-9 from the floor, leading to an unimpressive 8-for-25 for the half. To their good fortune, the Eagles were not too eagle-eyed either. Their first-quarter field-goal conversion was a dismal 3-for-12.
“I was pretty frustrated with our offense in the first half,” Conrad said. “We just weren”t moving. We missed a lot shots because there was no flow to our offense. We challenged them at halftime to do a little more.”
Why such a dismal half? “I don”t know,” Conrad responded. “But I know this: When we talk about it in the locker room they”ll tell me. That”s the kind of relationship I”ve got with them and that”s kind of a fun place to be.”
