ST. HELENA >> A bad first quarter put the Lower Lake Trojans in a deep hole against John Swett of Crockett and they couldn’t recover in a 57-42 loss on Thursday night in the opening round of the Sutter Home Tournament for varsity boys’ basketball teams at St. Helena.
“We turned the ball over 17 times, most of those early,” said Lower Lake coach Shannon Tubbs, who was making his varsity coaching debut with the Trojans (0-1). “We matched them point for point after that (first quarter), but we were never closer than 10 points.”
John Swett led 25-10 after the opening period.
“They were just really big … 6-8, 6-5 … and super athletes,” Tubbs said of the Swett players. “They hit us really hard, really fast in that first quarter.”
Hokulani Wickard’s 18 points led the Trojans in their season opener. Jordan McGrath and Jerod Alexander finished with six points apiece and Garrett Chernoh had four.
Lower Lake draws the first-round loser between Piner and Willits in today’s consolation semifinals at 4 p.m. The tournament wraps up on Saturday.
