PETALUMA >> To hear Upper Lake High School varsity boys’ basketball coach Justin Dutcher tell it, the Cougars might have been better off just mailing in a loss to St. Vincent instead of showing up the Mustangs’ gym on Friday night.
Maybe he was right.
“This group is on the verge of doing something pretty cool at Upper Lake, but not if we screw around and play like we did tonight,” Dutcher said following the Cougars’ 61-39 loss to St. Vincent in North Central League II varsity boys’ basketball action.
While Dutcher didn’t use the word “quit” in describing his team’s shabby performance, he said they stopped playing after falling behind 6-0.
“They totally outclassed us from the start,” Dutcher said of the Mustangs. “We fell behind 6-0, dropped our heads and started moping and there was no coming back after that.”
St. Vincent led 23-10 after one quarter and continued to build its lead the rest of the way, a far cry from the 60-51 battle the Cougars put up at home against the Mustangs in a losing cause on Jan. 12 in Upper Lake.
Isaac Nevarez led the Cougars (6-4 league, 13-8 overall) with 13 points. After that, the scoring fell off to Cody Rybolt’s six points.
St. Vincent won the junior varsity game.
