KELSEYVILLE >> Riley Goff scored 21 points, including career point No. 900, and the Kelseyville Knights maintained their hold on a share of first place in the North Central League I standings with a 64-35 victory over the Willits Wolverines on Tuesday night in Kelseyville.
Goff needs 82 more points to become the 40th player in Lake County history – and the second this season (joining Middletown’s Ashlyn Welton) – to reach 1,000 career points.
“Our offense was clicking pretty good but I thought our defense was very solid tonight,” Kelseyville coach Jim Hale said.
After struggling to put the ball in the basket in its previous game, a 36-32 win over Fort Bragg, Kelseyville (3-0 league, 12-3 overall) had no such problem against the Wolverines (1-2). Alma Perez finished with 15 points and Taylor Hale added nine more. The Knights sank seven 3-pointers, three by Goff.
Kelseyville led 45-20 through three quarters.
The Knights also improved to 3-0 in league play in the JV ranks with a 55-33 victory over Fort Bragg.
In other girls’ action Tuesday:
M’town 43, Cloverdale 32
At Cloverdale, the Middletown Mustangs kept pace with Kelseyville atop the NCL I standings by beating the Cloverdale Eagles at their home court.
“I was really happy with how we finished the game but any time you come on the road down here and get a big lead early, I’ll take that,” Middletown coach Anthony Bazzano said.
Middletown (3-0, 10-4), the defending league champion, led 27-13 by halftime and had as much as a 20-point lead in the third quarter.
With Ashlyn Welton (6 points) in foul trouble early, the Mustangs got a big lift from Emily Lescher’s team-leading 14 points, 10 of them in the second quarter. She also had six rebounds.
“She gave us a real big lift with both Ashlyn and Abby (Aden) on the bench in the second quarter,” Bazzano said.
In JV action, Middletown beat Cloverdale 53-33.
Clear Lake 63 St. Helena 20
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals picked up their first league win, beating the St. Helena Saints behind 18 points from Corin Alakszay and 17 from Taylor Helms.
“We ran our transition game pretty well,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said. “We didn’t want to get stuck in a half-court offense.”
Valerie Hutton added seven points in the win.
Clear Lake is 1-2 in league and 8-6 overall.
Clear Lake’s JVs improved to 3-0 in league play with a 52-10 win over St. Helena.
Boys’ basketball
Kelseyville 52, Willits 50
At Willits, winning in Willits hasn’t been an easy assignment the past few seasons but the Kelseyville Knights got the job done on Tuesday as Ean Valenzuela and Trey Conrad sank clutch 3-pointers in the final seconds to erase a four-point Willits lead.
Conrad’s 3-pointer from the wing put Kelseyville in front with 1.5 seconds left.
“We snuck out with a win,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said. “I’ve had my fair share of tough losses up here.”
Kyle Ellis led the Knights with 20 points and Nick Pfann added four points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals. Conrad finished with nine points, all on 3-pointers.
The Knights improved to 2-1 in the NCL I standings and 12-3 overall.
Clear Lake 79, St. Helena 70
At St. Helena, the Clear Lake Cardinals brought their offense back on line and hammered the St. Helena Saints.
Limited to just 84 points in their last two games, the Cardinals (2-1, 10-5) received double-digit scoring efforts from Max De Leon (22 points), Stevie Diaz (19 points), Tanner Hutton (12 points) and Ryan Damiata (11 points, 9 rebounds).
“They turned it into a foul contest there at the end and we hit our free throws,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said of the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
Both Hutton and De Leon went 4-for-4 from the line down the stretch.
Clear Lake led 54-53 entering the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals also won the JV game 67-39.
Cloverdale 61, Middletown 50
At Cloverdale, the Cloverdale Eagles, defending NCL I champions, returned to the site of their only league loss last season and beat the Middletown Mustangs with ease.
Sam Pyzer came off the bench led the Mustangs (0-3, 4-6) with 14 points, including three 3-pointers.
“Sam gave us a lot off the bench and Gabe Guzman played tremendous defense, he was all over the place,” Middletown coach G.J. Rockwell said.
Jake Rivera added 11 points and Josh Rebolledo had eight.
St. Vincent 60, Upper Lake 51
At Upper Lake, St. Vincent used a 21-4 third quarter to beat Upper Lake in NCL II action, dropping the Cougars to 2-1 in league and 9-4 overall.
Cody Rybolt led Upper Lake with 12 points.
Upper Lake took a 23-19 lead into halftime.
