LAKE COUNTY >> The last two boys’ basketball teams standing in Lake County put their seasons on the line Wednesday night as the North Coast Section playoffs open throughout Northern California.
Kelseyville (18-7) is the No. 14 seed in the 16-team Division IV field while Clear Lake (11-15) is the No. 16 seed in the 16-team Division V field. First-round games have Kelseyville at No. 3 Salesian (18-10) in Richmond and Clear Lake at No. 7 Marin Academy (13-11) in San Rafael. Both games tip off at 7 p.m.
Division IV
Kelseyville last qualified for the playoffs in 2012 when it lost to Salesian 67-14, and yep, you read that score right. While that Salesian team won its second of three straight sectional titles, this season’s squad is formidable in its own right if not quite as dominant as those 2011-13 Pride clubs.
If the Knights can somehow pull off a big upset, they would meet the winner of another first-round game between No. 6 Marin Catholic (18-10) and No. 11 Lick Wilmerding (16-10) in the quarterfinal on Saturday.
Kelseyville’s last playoff win was a 65-53 victory over San Rafael in the opening round of the 1998 Division IV playoffs.
Two other NCL I teams are included in this year’s playoff field. League champion Cloverdale (20-5) is the No. 9 seed and opens at home against No. 8 Fortuna (18-9). Willits (20-6), the team Kelseyville tied for second place in the NCL I, is the No. 13 seed, and travels to Berkeley to play No. 4 St. Mary’s (15-10).
Cardinal Newman (26-2) is the No. 1 seed and hosts NCL II champion Roseland Prep (20-6) in a first-round game.
All quarterfinal-round games are Saturday. The semifinals take place March 4 and the championship round is the weekend of March 6-7.
Division V
The Clear Lake Cardinals drop down into Division V this year and are definitely the wild card in the 16-team field after finishing tied for fourth in the NCL I, a league comprised of Division IV teams. Clear Lake beat Willits and Kelseyville in the second half of its league schedule and also played Cloverdale tough in the second league meeting between the two teams.
Coach Scott De Leon draws the fourth-place team out of the Bay Counties League West in Marin Academy. Other BCL West teams are No. 1 seed Stuart Hall (25-3) and No. 2 University High School (22-6), the team the Clear Lake-Marin Academy winner is likely to draw in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
The No. 3 seed in Division V is St. Joseph Notre Dame (14-14) out of the tough Tri-Counties Athletic League.
Clear Lake’s last playoff win came in the opening round of the Division IV playoffs in 2000 when the Cardinals defeated Terra Linda 69-56. Clear Lake’s last two playoff appearances — in 2014 and 2010 — resulted in first-round losses to Salesian.
