LAKEPORT >> In a game with not much at stake on Tuesday night, the home-standing Clear Lake Cardinals defeated the Lower Lake Trojans 67-60. And while both teams played well, there was little to be gained from the contest, which had no impact on the North Central I standings.
The best that could be said for the Cards is that they’ve won three of their last four games, including a victory over the league’s two-time defending champion, the Willits Wolverines.
Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon commended his team for not giving up on a season that began with the Cards playing decent basketball for a half or even three quarters and then going belly up. De Leon can point to the Cards’ up-and-down performance as a reason they are 3-6 in the NCL I standings.
“We were kind of snake-bit in the first half of the season,” said De Leon. “We’d play three quarters, play a good half and then let things slip out of our hands. When things weren’t going our way it’s easy to start doubting and we had a lot of that. We were kind of doubting ourselves.
“But I’ve been telling my guys they can play with anybody ” De Leon added. “I knew we had it in us and I’m proud that that they never gave up.”
The Trojans, who were holding their own in the league standings at 4-4, were playing the cards the way they were dealt to them. Problem is they were missing an ace – center Jerod Alexander – the heart of their rebounding. Lower Lake coach Tim Biasotti held Alexander out for disciplinary reasons. He did not specify.
“I’m not going to use that as an excuse why we lost,” Biasotti said. “I’m not going to take anything away from the way Clear Lake played.”
Added Biasotti, “ We played a pretty good game. I think most of the players on our team played pretty well tonight, but we got into a little bit of a problem without Jerod. I don’t have the stats in front of me, but I know they outrebounded us.
“That’s what happens when you take that guy out of the middle – he’s 6-foot-6 and he’s a very good player. But he got in trouble today.”
Lower Lake left the door open for Biasotti to play Alexander even though the school didn’t approve of what he did.
Biasotti said it was his decision to pull his center.
“If you get in trouble at school there’s no playing basketball. It’s sad if that’s the reason we lost, but we really emphasize doing the right things off the court.”
Leading the Cards to victory fell on the shoulders of transfer Stevie Diaz, who racked up 26 points.
“He came here from Upper Lake in the early part of the season,” De Leon said. “We got him right after league started. I told him I needed a little more productivity out of him. I’m not really sure what I said that inspired him. I just said, ‘I need more from you.’”
The Trojans stayed in the game until the half when they were down by only 32-29.
However, that changed when the Cardinals went on a 9-2 run and moved out front by 10 (46-36) with 2 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. That was quite enough to awaken a packed Clear Lake gym.
It was all over when Lower Lake failed to score on eight straight possessions in the fourth quarter.
A trey from half court by James Clark, who had 10 points, finally ended Lower Lake’s frustration.
Dustin Martin led Lower Lake with 18 points.
