KELSEYVILLE >> The team most people picked to the win the North Central League I varsity boys’ basketball race this season didn’t do a thing to sway anyone’s opinion on Tuesday night at Kelseyville High School.
Behind 22 points from Jayson McMillan and 20 from Marcus Poe, the Cloverdale Eagles beat the Kelseyville Knights 69-55 in the league opener for both teams.
The Knights had a 25-21 lead late in the second quarter before Cloverdale went on a 13-4 run to push ahead 34-29 by halftime.
“The kids played extremely hard but we just lost our focus a couple of times tonight and you can’t do that against a good team,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said.
Cloverdale increased its lead to 54-40 by the end of three quarters.
“They really shoot the ball well, too,” Conrad said. “They did a good job of making the extra pass to find the open shot, but we had a hand in their faces on a lot of those shots and they still made them, so more power to them.”
McMillan scored 12 of Cloverdale’s 19 points in the first quarter, all on 3-pointers. Poe had 16 points in the second half.
Victor Fernandez led Kelseyville (0-1, 7-4) with 14 points, Nick Pfann added 12 and Hunter Beatty had 10.
“I’ve got a fantastic group of kids and they play their blood and guts out,” Conrad said.
Kelseyvilel won the junior varsity game 71-57 behind 20 points from Gideon Turner and another 17 from Ean Valenzuela.
In other NCL I boys’ openers on Tuesday:
Lower Lake 80
St. Helna 57
At St. Helena, Dustin Martin hit five 3-pointers and scored a team-leading 24 points to power the Lower Lake Trojans past the St. Helena Saints.
The Trojans (1-0, 6-6) converted 12 times from behind the 3-point stripe. Hokulani Wickard added 16 points and three 3-pointers while Ian Stiles had 12 points and a pair of treys. Jerome Snipes scored 11 points in his Lower Lake debut.
“We played really good defense in the first half,” Lower Lake coach Tim Biasotti said of the Trojans’ 37-18 halftime lead. “And we obviously finished strong,” he added of a 23-point fourth quarter.
Lower Lake scored 20 or more points in each of the final three quarters.
The Trojans also won the JV game 52-49 behind 18 points from Marlon Jones.
Willits 60
Clear Lake 43
At Willits, defending NCL I champion Willits beat the Clear Lake Cardinals behind 23 points from senior guard Dimitri Betts.
“They’re still solid,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said of the Wolverines, who graduated most of their starters from last season’s team. “They may not shoot the ball as well from the outside as they’ve done the last couple of years, but they’re still good. They’ve got a couple of big kids who control the boards and they play solid defense. They are very well coached and they’re going to be one of the top teams in our division.”
Stevie Diaz, a transfer from Upper Lake, played his first game for Clear Lake and led the Cardinals (0-1, 5-8) with 16 points, including three 3-pointers.
“He was our spark on offense and he did a good job on defense as well,” De Leon said. “It’s nice to have him out on the floor.”
Ryan Smith added 13 points to the Cardinals’ cause and Jared Strate finished with 10.
Clear Lake won the JV game 56-16 behind 15 points from Tanner Hutton.
GIRLS
Middletown 44
Fort Bragg 33
At Middletown, Ashlyn Welton’s 21 points and 17 rebounds propelled the Middletown Mustangs to a league-opening victory over the Fort Bragg Timberwolves.
Middletown (1-0, 8-5) built a 30-17 halftime lead but struggled on offense in the second half.
“We had plenty of good, easy looks in that third quarter and scored four points,” Middletown coach Anthony Bazzano said. “We played very good defense the last three quarters and good offense in the first half.”
Makenzi Smith added 10 points, hitting all three of the Mustangs’ 3-pointers.
“That gave us a spark,” Bazzano said.
Abby Aden added seven points and six rebounds.
“Hats off to Fort Bragg,” Bazzano said. “They played hard and were active defensively.”
Middletown struggled from the free-throw line as well, hitting just 13 of 28 shots. “We’re usually a very good free-throw shooting team,” Bazzano said.
Lower Lake 35
St. Helena 22
At Lower Lake, the Lower Lake Trojans struggled from the field all night long but still beat the St. Helena Saints in the league opener for both teams.
Ashlynn Mock led Lower Lake with 14 points, including the team’s only two 3-pointers. Jolean Scarborough added seven points and a team-best 21 rebounds.
“I don’t think we shot shot 15 percent,” Lower Lake coach Jim Salmina said. “I think we had some hangover left from the tournament,” Salmina added of the Trojans’ 59-43 loss to Vintage in a final-round game Saturday at the Chernoh Classic in Lower Lake.
“No one shot the ball very well, not even Mock,” Salmina said.
The Trojans are 7-6 overall.
Lower Lake won the JV game 48-17 behind 14 points from Shayna Pike.
Cloverdale 54
Kelseyville 44
At Cloverdale, the Cloverdale Eagles built a 31-16 halftime lead before the Kelseyville Knights fought back in the second half to make a game of it.
While the Knights couldn’t come all the way back, they definitely gave it a shot, according to coach Jim Hale.
“We cut it to six at one point before it got away from us a little bit there at the end,” he said. “If we clean up some small things here and there, we’ll be OK,” Hale added.
Riley Goff led the Indians (0-1, 6-5) with 13 points while Mary McCallister and Alma Perez added 11 apiece.
Cloverdale also won the JV game 44-39 despite 13 points from Kelseyville’s Tymeka Green.
Willits 44
Clear Lake 34
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals committed six more turnovers than they had points in a league-opening loss to the Willits Wolverines.
“You’re not going to win any game turning the ball over 40 times,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said.
Clear Lake (0-1, 5-8) took a 28-27 lead into the fourth quarter before full-scale frustration set in, according to Reynolds.
“We were still in it, but we started giving up some easy baskets in the fourth quarter,” Reynolds said.
The Cardinals did a good job getting to the foul line in the first half while battling the Wolverines to a 22-all halftime tie.
Taylor Helms went 7-for-8 from the line, part of her team-leading 19-point night. No other Cardinal had more than four points.
Clear Lake won the JV game 52-29 behind 16 points from Camille Donald.
