PEBBLE BEACH >> The Kelseyville Knights played a solid first half but couldn’t quite put Langston Hughes of Stockton away on Thursday night in the opening round of the Stevenson Tournament at Pebble Beach.
“We got kind of sloppy in the second half,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said following the Knights’ 55-41 victory. “We’re going to face two pretty good teams the next couple of days so we’ll need to play a lot better.”
Kelseyville faces Argonaut of Jackson tonight in the winner’s semifinals at 8 p.m. Tournament host Robert Louis Stevenson is the top team on the other side of the bracket, according to Conrad.
The Knights carried a 29-12 lead into halftime but struggled in the second half, primarily on defense, and let Langston Hughes stick around, according to Conrad.
Kyle Ellis led the Knights with 19 points and sank all five of their 3-pointers.
“Kyle was fantastic,” Conrad said. “He was really unselfish with the basketball or he could have had 28 or 30 points.”
Ellis also dished out a team-best six assists.
Hunter Beatty added 12 points and Nick Pfann had 10 for the Knights, who improved to 4-0 on the season. Sambhava Baird contributed a team-high seven rebounds as well as six points while Nate Carpenter collected four assists from the center position.
“When the defense collapsed down on his he did a good job of kicking the ball outside,” Conrad said of Carpenter. “Nate did a good job.”
