UPPER LAKE >> One player doesn’t make a team but one player can make a team go. Just ask Upper Lake High School varsity boys’ basketball coach Justin Dutcher and he’ll tell you it’s all true.
That one player for the Cougars during the 2015-16 season was Isaac Nevarez, the super senior who averaged a team- and Lake County-best 20.5 points a game. Nevarez, the single biggest reason why Upper Lake posted winning records in both the North Central League II standings (8-6) and overall (15-11), was a leader on and off the court for the Cougars, the one player Dutcher never had to worry about. “He was definitely our team leader,” Dutcher said of Nevarez, who was recently named to the All-NCL II boys’ basketball first team by a vote of the league’s coaches. “If I needed to get information out to the team, all I had to do was text Isaac. Whatever I needed taken care of he took care of. I never once had an issue with him.”
While he was low maintenance off the court, Nevarez was a high-performance competitor on the hardwood, according to Dutcher.
“He was a slasher and a scorer,” Dutcher said. “He wasn’t going to pull up from the outside and take a lot of shots (although he did sink 39 3-pointers). He made his living going to the basket, getting fouled and making free throws.
“He made a lot of contact and got beat up pretty good a couple of times. He would come right back the next game and attack the basket again,” Dutcher added.
Nevarez scored 450 points in 22 games for the Cougars and no other Lake County boy had more. His worth to Upper Lake, a perennial also-ran in the boys’ basketball ranks the better part of the last decade, was such that another league coach nominated him for the most valuable player award this season.
“And he got a couple of votes,” Dutcher said. “He deserved it.”
Pablo Avendano of Roseland Prep, the NCL II co-champion along with St. Vincent, eventually was named MVP after some debate.
“Is the MVP about who was most valuable to their team or who is the best player on the best team?” Dutcher said. “There is more than one definition of a MVP.”
“He came within inches of being the MVP,” Dutcher said. “And he deserved it.”
Replacing Nevarez next season won’t be easy, according to Dutcher, but between those varsity players who are returning and a group of talented players moving up from the junior varsity ranks, Dutcher said he likes his team’s chances of posting another winning record in 2016-17.
“I’m expecting us to be right back where we were this year,” he said. “A lot will depend on how hard they (returning players) are willing to work in the offseason.”
Nevarez and Avendano were joined on the All-NCL II first team by Frankie Valdez of Roseland Prep, Himansu Singh of Technology, and Will Tarrant and Liam Galten of St. Vincent, all seniors.
The All-League second team featured sophomore Charlie Segale and junior Willy Chung of Rincon Valley Christian, senior Jack Greenberg of Sonoma Academy, senior Mike Awad of St. Vincent, and junior Justin Fahy of St. Vincent.
Among the eight honorable mentions was Upper Lake sophomore Cody Rybolt, who averaged 8.0 points a game for the Cougars.
“He was nominated for the second team and just missed,” Dutcher said. “He has all the potential in the world to be an MVP candidate if he’s willing to work hard.”
Other honorable mentions were sophomore Cory Olson of Rincon Valley Christian, senior Manny Martinez of Calistoga, senior Abel Ortiz of Roseland Prep, senior Reilly Tobin of St. Vincent, junior Evan Lampson of Sonoma Academy, sophomore Jon Hirsch of Technology, and junior Ricky De Santiago of Tomales.
