LOWER LAKE >> A day after they reached a high as the team with the best record in the North Central League I varsity boys’ basketball standings, homestanding Lower Lake on Saturday found itself in the hole against visiting St. Bernard during non-league action.
No big deal. Or so it would seem. Close finishes became commonplace in Lower Lake’s first six league games, all of them wins and two of them in overtime. But this time the Trojans didn’t have the necessary player to pull them out of the hole they were in. The player — 6-foot-5 center/forward Jerod Alexander — fouled out of a game won by the visiting Crusaders, 50-49, the third straight victory for St. Bernard, the league leader in the Humboldt-Del Norte Little Four.
“We had to play a whole half without the big guy,” said Lower Lake coach Shannon Tubbs. “A good part of what we do defensively and offensively is built around Jerod.”
The Crusaders won when Isaac Drake drove into the key for a layup to overcome a 49-48 Trojan lead with 1.7 seconds left. An inbounds pass by Lower Lake’s Robert Calderon ended up hitting a strut hanging from the ceiling as he tried to reach a teammate on the other end of the floor, and St. Bernard was awarded the ball. It could have been a heartbreaker for the Trojans — if their hearts had been in it.
But, coming as it did in the midst of a title run for Lower Lake, Tubbs, a first-year head coach, shrugged it off.
“I wasn’t excited about this game,” he said. “It was almost like a preseason game.”
But the game did underscore the importance of Alexander to the Trojans’ delicate chemistry even though he had only three points, eight below his season average entering play. In early foul trouble, Alexander spent most of the second quarter on the bench with three fouls. He picked up his fourth just a minute into the third quarter and was promptly called for a technical — his fifth foul — while registering his dissatisfaction.
The Trojans didn’t measure up to the way they’ve played in the last couple of weeks while surpassing the other North Central League I title contenders — Fort Bragg, Cloverdale and Kelseyville.
They started OK behind their sophomore leader, point guard Hokulani Wickard, whose 15 points were tops for Lower Lake followed by Marlon Jones with 12. They had four treys in the opening period to take a 21-10 lead by quarter’s end. By halftime the Trojan lead had been trimmed to 29-25. They were still leading until the final 13 seconds of the third quarter when the Crusaders’ Micah Fontenot scored on a layup and added a third point on a foul call during his basket.
The game was tied four times in the last quarter.
Sixth man Ethan Watson tossed in nine points for the Trojans.
St. Bernard has won three in a row.
Lower Lake, now 11-8 overall, has three league games this week as do the other NCL I teams. The Trojans are away tonight against St. Helena, home Thursday to play Fort Bragg, and home Saturday to take on Kelseyville.
