POTTER VALLEY >> While it wasn’t a North Central League I game, the Lower Lake Trojans bounced back from a 61-54 road loss to Fort Bragg on Tuesday with a 71-40 non-league victory over the Potter Valley Bearcats on Wednesday evening in Potter Valley.
Ian Stiles scored 19 points, one of four Lower Lake players to reach double figures, as the Trojans improved to 9-10 on the season. They have seven league games remaining before the North Coast Section playoffs arrive at the end of February. While the postseason is still a few weeks off and there is absolutely no guarantee Lower Lake will advance, the win over Potter Valley could come in handy down the road because a .500 overall record or better is one of the criteria for reaching the playoffs.
“Reaching the playoffs was one of our goals before the season began,” Lower Lake coach Tim Biasotti said. “Just being in a position to apply would be something special because we haven’t been able to do that down here in about 10 years.”
Lower Lake is 3-4 at the midway mark of the NCL I race and the Trojans open the second half Friday at home against St. Helena (2-5). A .500 or better record in league play certainly wouldn’t hurt the Trojans’ chances of reaching the postseason.
Of course, that might be easier said than done this year because of a fairly lively league race.
“Even the teams at the bottom of our league are capable of giving the teams at the top a game,” Biasotti said.
Joining Stiles, who had three 3-pointers, in double figures in the scoring column were Hokulani Wickard and Isazah King with 16 points apiece and Dustin Martin with 15. King’s total was a season best.
Lower Lake led 22-5 after one quarter and 42-14 by halftime, at which point the Trojans backed off.
There was no junior varsity game.
