KELSEYVILLE >> Long-range marksmen Himansu Singh and Neil Morris kept the Technology boys’ basketball team within two points of Kelseyville for a half before the Knights pulled away for a 62-48 victory on Friday in second-round action at the 44th annual Stokes Tournament in Kelseyville.
Kelseyville (2-0) will play archrival Clear Lake tonight for the championship at 7 p.m.
In other second-round boys’ action on Friday, Clear Lake hammered defending Stokes champion Elsie Allen 75-50 while Sonoma Valley knocked off South Fork.
In second-round Stokes varsity girls’ action, Kelseyville rolled past St. Helena 56-11 to set up a title showdown today at 5:30 p.m. against defending Stokes champion Cloverdale, a 00-00 winner over Upper Lake, and Ferndale beat South Fork 64-35.
Boys
K’ville 62, Tech 48
At Kelseyville, Singh scored 15 of his 18 points in the first half, all on 3-pointers, while Morris finished the game with 14 points and four 3-pointers.
“A couple of his 3s were from just across the half-court stripe, I’m not kidding,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said of Singh. “They play very well and they shot the ball well the whole game. I know a lot of people don’t like the 3-point shot, but Tech embraces it and they shot their way into the game.”
Kelseyville began to gain separation in the third quarter and Conrad said the reason was pretty simple.
“We tightened up our defense a little bit. I was a little frustrated in the first half with our defense, we weren’t following the gameplan. In the first half we gave them too many second chances that turned into kick-out 3-pointers.”
The Knights not only did a better job of boxing out underneath the basket in the second half, but they made sure Singh had a hand in his face when shooting the ball during the final two quarters. He scored only three points in the second half, hitting his sixth 3-pointer of the game.
“And we had someone in his face when he that 3-pointer,” Conrad said. “We did a much better job on defense.”
Nick Pfann led the Knights’ defensive resurgence in the second half, according to Conrad. “He anchored us in that third quarter.”
Pfann finished with six steals to go along with eight rebounds and a team-best 23 points.
Kelseyville took a 46-35 lead into the final period.
Kyle Ellis had 12 points for the Knights while Trey Conrad added seven, including two 3-pointers.
Clear Lake 75, Elsie Allen 50
Another game, another 28-point first quarter for the Clear Lake Cardinals, who ended Elsie Allen’s reign as Stokes Tournament champion in decisive fashion as sophomore Tanner Hutton unloaded on the Lobos to the tune of 32 points, 22 coming in the first half as Clear Lake built a 48-22 advantage.
“He’s capable of that as a sophomore playing up,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said. “He had a great game … obviously.”
And Hutton wasn’t alone although he certainly stood out for the Cardinals. Max De Leon added 16 points, Stevie Diaz had 11, Tyler Dore came off the bench to score 10 points and pull down seven rebounds, and Ryan Damiata had a team-best 14 rebounds to go along with four points.
“Last night it was Max, tonight it was Tanner with the big night,” De Leon said. “We have got to have a guy step up every night and get us rolling. We pushed the ball hard up the floor and took advantage of open shots.”
As impressive as Clear Lake’s offense was against Elsie Allen, the team defense was just as good, according to De Leon, who said the Cardinals’ zone had the Lobos confused and a bit frustrated.
“We boxed out well and limited their second-shot opportunities, especially in the first half,” De Leon said.
Damiata and Dore, who was called off the bench once starter Alex Thoman ran into foul trouble, held their own on the boards against the bigger Lobos.
“We’ve not only got to shoot well with our guards and forwards, but we’ve got to play defense and we’ve done that so far,” De Leon said.
Tonight’s meeting with Kelseyville in the championship game will be the first of at least four meetings between the two schools this season. The same two clubs will meet again later this month in the Record-Bee Hoop Classic in Middletown, play each other twice in league, and could end up meeting a fifth time in the North Central League I postseason tournament, which returns this season.
Girls
K’ville 56, St. Helena 11
Kelseyville had 28 steals, including a team-leading seven by freshman Payton Conrad, and the Knights punched their ticket for tonight’s Stokes championship game against Cloverdale with a victory over fellow NCL I opponent St. Helena.
“We trapped the ball real well and were getting after it in our press,” Kelseyville coach Jim Hale said.
Kelseyville took a 50-9 lead into the final period after limiting St. Helena to three points in each of the first three quarters.
“Offensively we were seeing the floor real well and making that extra pass to find the open shooters,” Hale said.
One of those shooters being Conrad, who led the team with 17 points, including all three of the Knights’ 3-pointers. Alma Perez also had 10 points while Riley Goff and Haleigh Meyer finished with eight points apiece.
“We were pounding the ball inside into the posts who did a nice job kicking the ball back outside,” Hale said.
Kelseyville is 3-0 on the season.
Cloverdale 59, Upper Lake 33
While Upper Lake held its own against Cloverdale’s pressing defense, it was the Eagles’ man-to-man defense in the half court that caused the Cougars the most trouble in a 59-33 loss, setting up a Cloverdale-Kelseyville final tonight. Upper Lake plays St. Helena today at 2:30 p.m. in a final-round game.
“If we come out of this tournament with two wins, I’ll take it,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said.
Upper Lake (2-2) had only three players reach the scoring column. Natalie Karlsson led the way with 23 points and Kejhana Taylor had eight points to go along with a team-leading 11 rebounds, all defensive, and six steals.
“On the defensive end she was solid,” Smith said of Taylor.
Still, it’s hard to win when only three players score.
“That’s the story of our season … can we develop more offense,” Smith said. “We had a size advantage against them but couldn’t take advantage. We were not getting good looks into the post.”
Alejandra Perez and Angel Bernardi scored 14 points apiece for Cloverdale.
