LOWER LAKE — Dylan Thomas led the way with 20 points, Ian Stiles added 13 and James Clark had 12 to power the Lower Lake Trojans past the Upper Lake Cougars 67-59 in a non-league varsity boys” basketball game Thursday at Lower Lake.
It was the season opener for both teams.
Upper Lake (0-1) suited up just six players for the game but managed to keep it close most of the way. The Cougars tied the game at 26-all in the second quarter before the Trojans (1-0) moved out to a 39-29 halftime lead.
“We played pretty good defense,” Lower Lake coach Tim Biasotti said. “Our team likes to run and we don”t have a lot of size inside. Upper Lake is the same way. They had only six players but they played really scrappy.”
Greg Gagnon”s 20 points paced Upper Lake, Wesley Thaxton chipped in 17 and Shahid Hussain had 16.
“These guys played with a lot of hustle,” Upper Lake assistant coach Glenn Wienke said. “They competed. We can build off this … this is good stuff.”
Stiles scored 11 of his 13 points, including all three of his 3-pointers, in the first quarter for the Trojans, who led 19-11 after the opening period. Clark played only half the game but was a big factor in the outcome, according to Biasotti.
“He made his defensive presence known,” Biasotti said.
Johnny Egger had eight points for the Trojans.
Upper Lake returns to action tonight against Kelseyville in a four-game set that begins at 3:30 p.m. Lower Lake is off until Dec. 11.
