CLOVERDALE >> The Clear Lake Cardinals returned to the site of their worst mauling of the 2015-16 high school basketball season on Tuesday night, this time to take on the Cloverdale Eagles in the North Central League I opener for both of these varsity boys’ basketball teams.
It didn’t go much better than the first meeting.
Cloverdale handed Clear Lake a 73-49 loss, which wasn’t quite as bad as the 67-28 rout the Eagles inflicted on the Cardinals last month in the championship game of the John McMillan Holiday Invitational.
“We played a fairly clean game and didn’t have a whole lot of turnovers,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said.
Cloverdale dominated the first quarter and led 19-5 but Clear Lake battled back to make a game of it in the second quarter, outscoring the Eagles 23-15.
“We switched defenses in the second quarter and really played well,” De Leon said. “We got right back in it.”
Cloverdale made its own adjustments at halftime and went on to oustcore Clear Lake 27-5 in the third quarter to blow it open.
“They just ran away from us,” De Leon said. “When you play them you get one shot and that’s it.”
Ryan Damiata led the Cardinals with 22 points and Stevie Diaz had nine.
Clear Lake also fell in junior varsity action, falling 62-51 to the Eagles. T.J. Marcks led the Cardinals (10-1), who lost their first game of the season, with nine points. Brady McGuire and Rodrigo Lupercio each had eight.
