SAN RAFAEL >> Marin Academy of San Rafael kept its starters in the game almost the entire way and beat the Clear Lake Cardinals 93-50 in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division V boys’ basketball playoffs on Wednesday night in San Rafael.
Junior guard Kyle Roach led the way with 42 points — half of those coming with the game well in hand.
“He never left the game,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said. “He’s a really good player, no doubt about it. If that’s the way they do stuff down there, that’s up to them.”
Marin Academy (14-11) led 22-12 after one quarter and 51-24 at halftime.
“They’re a good team, well coached,” De Leon said.
An ill omen for the Cardinals, who finish the season at 11-16, was the loss of starter Ryan Smith during pre-game warmups. Smith aggravated an ankle injury by stepping on a teammate and could not play.
“Not having him isn’t why we lost by as much as we did, but he is an integral part of our operation, our team,” De Leon said. “It took a little steam out of us.”
Lake County scoring champion Jared Strate led the Cardinals with 21 points, Stevie Diaz added 11 and Jordan Chana had eight. Strate made four of the Cardinals’ seven 3-pointers.
In other boys’ playoff action Wednesday:
Salesian 83
Kelseyville 36
At Richmond, the Kelseyville Knights won’t be advancing to the quarterfinals of the Division IV playoffs after falling to the No. 3-seeded Salesian Pride in opening-round action.
Salesian (19-10) has now ended each of Kelseyville’s last two appearances in the postseason, both times with lopsided first-round victories.
“They’re just so fast and long, you just can’t simulate that (in practice),” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said. “We couldn’t run our offense. It (Salesian’s speed) kind of makes you play as individuals, it takes you out of a team game.”
The Knights (18-8) were trying to become the first Lake County boys’ team to win a Division IV game since 2003 when Lower Lake beat Healdsburg and Drake in back-to-back playoff contests to reach the semifinals. That quest will have to wait for at least one more season.
“Our kids battled,” Conrad said. “Tyler Riewerts was diving on the court for the ball to the bitter end. He played his best game of the season.”
Riewerts, a junior, finished with seven points. Kyle Ellis, a sophomore, led the Knights with 17 points and had the team’s only 3-pointer.
Girls
Bay School 65
Upper Lake 55
At San Francisco, a strong finish couldn’t overcome a poor start as the Upper Lake Cougars fell to the Bay School Breakers of San Francisco in a first-round Division V girls’ game.
The Cougars (22-5) trailed 24-8 after one quarter and couldn’t recover. They were never closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
“We got frustrated toward the end of the first quarter and basically our game plan went out the window … we drifted away from it and they (Breakers) made breakaway layups and hit threes,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said. “It’s tough to come back from being that many down.”
Upper Lake played with Bay School the rest of the way and actually outscored the Breakers over the final three quarters, including 22-12 in the final period.
“It was just frustrating to me because we went back to some bad habits and that’s my fault,” Smith said. “We played with them the rest of the way.”
Upper Lake, the No. 11 seed in the 16-team field, was hoping to win at least one playoff game after a strong regular season that saw the Cougars post the school’s best record since the 1993-94 team went 29-1. Upper Lake finished second in the North Central League II race, just one game behind champion Sonoma Academy, which lost 54-36 to Convent of the Sacred Heart in its first-round game on Wednesday.
LaShaye Taylor and Jojo Augustine scored 15 points in their final game for Upper Lake. Sophomore guard Natalie Karlsson added 11 points.
“It was a good year and I told the girls that after the game,” Smith said.
Justin-Siena 57
Kelseyville 41
At Napa, the Kelseyville Knights closed out a bounceback season by falling to Marin County Athletic League champion Justin-Siena in the first round of the Division IV playoffs.
Under first-year coach Jim Hale, the Knights finished 16-10 compared to 10-14 last season. It was the Knights’ first postseason appearance since 2010. Nearly the entire starting lineup returns next season.
“I am very satisfied with what they accomplished,” Hale said of his young roster. “We talked about some of our goals for next season, including getting back to the playoffs, upping our wins and maybe getting a home game for the playoffs.”
Kelseyville trailed only 12-11 after one quarter and 25-17 at halftime. Justin-Siena pulled away with a 22-7 third quarter.
“The first quarter was a great quarter,” Hale said. “But for some reason the third quarter has been a difficult quarter for us this year. We always seem to lose it there, especially in the big games.”
Justin-Siena senior point guard Morgan Malloy led the Braves with 23 points and was a big factor in her team’s victory.
“Every time they needed a basket she got it,” Hale said.
Kelseyville was never closer than 12 points down the stretch.
Alma Perez led the Knights with 17 points, including three 3-pointers, and Riley Goff added 10 points.
