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LOWER LAKE >> Lower Lake held off defending tournament champion Clear Lake 73-66 in the opening round of the 21st annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic on Thursday night at Lower Lake High School.
Lower Lake scored the game’s final six points after watching a nine-point lead cut to one.
“We have a long way to go, we still have games against Middletown and Kelseyville,” Lower Lake coach Tim Biasotti said.
Dustin Martin powered the Trojans with 26 points, including six 3-pointers, the final four coming in the fourth quarter. Freshman Hokulani Wickard, all of 14 years old, added 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Trojans moved into tonight’s second round where they will play Middletown, a winner over Kelseyville on Thursday. Wickard also had two blocked shots and a handful of assists. He played nearly the entire game and was a key component during Lower Lake’s last-minute offensive surge.
The Trojans led 21-13 after one quarter and 35-28 at halftime. Clear Lake rallied in the third quarter to take a 48-47 lead.
Lower Lake won without starting center Jerod Alexander, who missed the game for disciplinary reasons. Mauricio Jauregui helped lessen the loss as he grabbed a team-best 13 rebounds to go along with nine points. Ian Stiles added 10 points.
Jared Strate’s 20 points paced Clear Lake, which won all three of its Hoop Classic games a year ago. Marty Sugimoto and Damian Lopez added 10 points apiece and Ryan Smith had nine.
In the early varsity game Thursday:
Middletown 46
Kelseyville 39
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The Middletown Mustangs aren’t especially big and don’t have a pure shooter, but they’re always on the attack when they’re not playing airtight defense. Behind 17 points from Cody Chorjel and 10 from Jovon Self, the Mustangs shut down the Kelseyville Knights’ offense in first-round action.
Middletown played without starter Wyatt Hall, who sustained a broken nose in the Mustangs’ last game and had surgery to repair the damage. He could be out as many as six weeks, according to Middletown coach G.J. Rockwell, who used a rotation of seven players, the starters soaking up the bulk of the minutes.
Tired legs late in the game prevented the Mustangs from winning by even a larger margin as they struggled from the free-throw line, where they were just 5-for-14 the final two quarters.
Kelseyville ran into foul trouble early. As a result, the Mustangs ended up shooting a total of 26 free throws to just seven for the Knights.
Middletown trailed 6-2 in the opening minutes but a Chorjel putback late in the first quarter put the Mustangs ahead to stay 9-7. Ian Bright hit a 3-pointer on Middletown’s next trip down the floor and Chorjel scored again in the final seconds, putting back his own miss, to make it 14-7 by quarter’s end.
Despite a cold-shooting night, the Knights were still in the game at halftime trailing just 23-18. Middletown bumped its lead back up to seven by the end of the third quarter and the game stayed within a six- to eight-point range most of the final period. Continually hurt by turnovers, Kelseyville was unable to put together anything in the way of a run druing the game.
Middletown also had several multiple-shot possessions as Kelseyville struggled to box out the Mustangs on the boards. Chorjel was the biggest beneficiary of that as he burned the Knights down low on numerous occasions.
Brandon Huber’s 11 points led the Knights. Victor Fernandez added eight and Kyle Ellis had seven.
