KELSEYVILLE >> Max De Leon, Stevie Diaz and Ryan Damiata all scored in double figures and the Clear Lake Cardinals certainly had the three-ball working in the first quarter as they overwhelmed Sonoma Valley 73-47 in the opening round of the 44th annual Stokes Tournament on Thursday in Kelseyville.
In other first-round action, tournament host Kelseyville knocked off South Fork 61-38 and defending Stokes champion Elsie Allen blasted Technology 73-47.
Lake County’s two entries in the varsity girls’ bracket also opened with wins, Upper Lake beating St. Helena 38-33 and Kelseyville taking care of business in a 77-11 victory over South Fork. Cloverdale also beat Ferndale 60-29.
Second-round games are today (the schedule is on Page A7) and final-round games are Saturday.
Boys
Clear Lake 73, Sonoma 47
Clear Lake outscored Sonoma Valley 28-7 in the first quarter, sinking five of its eight 3-pointers in the opening period. Damiata led the charge with nine points in the quarter, including a 3-pointer, and Diaz had seven points in the period.
“We came out hot and that set us up with some confidence,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said. “Holding them to seven points was a great way to start the game.”
Tanner Hutton just missed joining De Leon, Diaz and Damiata in double figures as he finished with nine points, all on 3-pointers. Damiata also pulled down 12 rebounds, De Leon had eight steals, and Diaz dished out six assists to go along with four steals.
“He was really important to us,” De Leon said of the play of Diaz on both offense and defense. “Max also played well at both ends.”
Although Sonoma Valley had a distinct size advantage inside, Damiata was able to hold his own underneath, according to De Leon. Of his 12 rebounds, eight were defensive.
“We’re not real tall and we’re going to have battle through it,” De Leon said. “I’m very pleased with how we played today. We set some goals and accomplished them.”
It was the season opener for the Cardinals, who are looking to improve on last season’s 11-16 record.
Colton Mertens led Sonoma Valley with 14 points.
K’ville 61, South Fork 38
A 19-6 first quarter propelled a deep Kelseyville Knights squad to a win over South Fork.
“South Fork is always well coached,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said. “They always play hard and good basketball.”
So did the Knights in their first effort of the 2015-16 season. Nick Pfann led a balanced scoring attack with 18 points, Kyle Ellis added 11, Trey Conrad had seven in his varsity debut, and both Randy Pfann and Gideon Turner chipped in with six points each.
“We were pretty sharp, especially for a first game,” Conrad said. “That said, we definitely have things to work on and we will.”
With perhaps his deepest squad since taking over the Kelseyville program, Conrad said it’s quite likely the Knights may throw out a number of different starting lineups at the opposition this season.
“I have some decisions to make,” Conrad said. “We do have some good big kids that we’ll be taking a look at.”
Logan Barrick led the Knights with 10 rebounds.
Armando Martinez paced South Fork with 13 points.
Elsie Allen 73, Tech 47
Markus Jenkins led the way with 24 points and Nickolas Hercules added 19 as Elsie Allen of Santa Rosa opened its Stokes title defense with an easy win over Technology of Rohnert Park. Himansu Singh led Tech with 25 points and Jacob Tawasha had 10.
Girls
Upper Lake 38, St. Helena 33
Natalie Karlsson pretty much did it all for the Upper Lake, erupting for 24 points, including six 3-pointers, and also finishing with six rebounds, five steals and two assists in the Cougars’ first-round win over St. Helena.
“She’s got kind of a Stephen Curry thing going,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said of his junior guard, who has scored 73 points in her first three games this season. “She’s on a pretty good roll, doing what she needs to do.”
Smith is waiting for his other players to step up on the offensive end. Right now he said it’s more a lack of confidence than anything else.
Brenna Sanchez added six points and a team-best eight rebounds and Kejhana Taylor finished with four points.
The two teams were never separated by much. Upper Lake led 18-13 at halftime and 28-22 through three quarters.
“I thought we could have played better, had it under more control,” Smith said. “They are working hard, now they’ve got to work smarter.”
Anie Gomes scored eight points to lead St. Helena.
Kelseyville 77, South Fork 11
It was all Kelseyville from the opening tip as the Knights improved to 2-0 on the season with a lopsided victory over the South Fork Cubs of Miranda. The Knights led 23-0 after one quarter and 41-3 by halftime.
Junior guard Riley Goff led the way with 22 points and eight assists, Heidy Cano added 15 points, and Haleigh Meyer and Payton Conrad each had 13 for the Knights.
“Everybody played big minutes,” said Kelseyville coach Jim Hale, who emptied his bench early on against the Cubs.
Conrad, a freshman guard, had four of the Knights’ five 3-point field goals.
“She got her shot working tonight,” Hale said.
The Knights made the most of 22 steals. Carli Mendonca finished with five points and a team-high nine rebounds, eight on the offensive boards.
Madison Solomon’s four points led South Fork.
Cloverdale 60, Ferndale 29
Defending Stokes champion Cloverdale used a balanced scoring attack to overwhelm Ferndale. Alejandra Perez paced the Eagles with 16 points while teammates Angel Bernardi and Teanne Edens added 14 and 12 points, respectively.
