KELSEYVILLE >> The Clear Lake Cardinals and Kelseyville Knights are headed back to the boys championship game of the Stokes Invitational Basketball Tournament after winning Friday night in semifinal-round action at the Kelseyville High School gym.
Clear Lake defeated Rancho Cotate 59-51 while Kelseyville beat South Fork 68-30. The two longtime Lake County rivals meet tonight at 7:30 p.m. A year ago, the Knights beat the Cardinals 63-51 in the championship game, the first of their four meetings — all won by Kelseyville — during the 2015-16 season.
The Upper Lake Cougars won’t be playing for a championship today when they meet Technology in the seventh-place game at 10:30 a.m., but the Cougars certainly haven’t backed down against the big-school opponents they’ve faced in the first two rounds of the Stokes. After dropping a 57-40 decision to Rancho Cotate on Thursday in the opening round, a game the Cougars led at halftime, Upper Lake cut a 20-point Sonoma Valley lead to six down the stretch in a 42-31 loss in the consolation semifinals on Friday.
Clear Lake 59, Rancho 51
The final four minutes of the game were the difference as the Cardinals hit their free throws down the stretch and came up big on defense, according to Clear Lake head coach Scott De Leon.
“There were about four minutes left and the game was tied when I called a timeout and told them that we have to pick up the pace and play with more energy for these last four minutes,” De Leon said. “They did it.”
Clear Lake (2-0) went 13-for-19 at the line for the game but 7-for-11 in the pivotal fourth quarter to beat the Cougars.
“I’ve got to give a lot of the credit to Rancho Cotate,” De Leon said. “They were quick, very aggressive and very physical. We struggled the whole game getting into a flow on offense. Their defense caused that.”
Max De Leon’s 19 points paced the Cardianls and Ryan Damiata added another 16. Other leading scorers were Tanner Hutton with nine points and T.J. Marcks with eight.
The game was close throughout. The Cardinals led 17-13 after one quarter, 32-29 at the half and 47-42 through three quarters.
Rancho Cotate plays South Fork in the third-place game today at 4:30 p.m.
K’ville 68, South Fork 30
Kelseyville’s defense was humming along and so was the Knight’s break in the first half as they built a 39-12 halftime lead against the South Fork Cubs.
“We played really well on defense and we had our break going,” Kelseyville coach Scot Conrad said.
Eleven Knights reached the scoring column for the second straight tournament game. Ian Valenzuela’s 15 points led the way while Trey Conrad added 14 and Kyle Ellis had 10.
Looking ahead to tonight’s championship game against Clear Lake, Conrad said, “No doubt Clear Lake is farther ahead of where we are right now but I think our kids will give them a game.”
Many of Conrad’s players joined the team late this season because of Kelseyville’s involvement in the North Coast Section football playoffs, which ended on Nov. 25 for the Knights.
Sonoma 42, Upper Lake 31
Trailing 25-6 at halftime, the Upper Lake Cougars crept back to within six points of the Dragons early in the fourth quarter before losing their third straight game to a bigger school.
“We were intimidated by their size in the first half,” Upper Lake coach Justin Dutcher said. “We were playing scared on offense but our defensive play was fine.”
Upper Lake (0-3) used a 17-9 third quarter to cut Sonoma’s lead to 11 points and reduced that deficit to six in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
“We came roaring out of the locker room in the third quarter,” Dutcher said. “We had another mini-spurt in the fourth quarter to get it to six. It was an impressive comeback.”
Sonoma was able to hold on for the win. The Dragons play Elsie Allen in the consolation championship game today at 1:30 p.m. Upper Lake draws Technology, a member of its own league, the North Central League II, in the seventh-place game at 10:30 a.m.
“We played a good first half against Rancho (a 57-40 loss on Thursday) and a terrible second half. Tonight we had a terrible first half and a great second half. Maybe we can put two great halves together against them (Technology).”
Isaiah Garcia’s 11 points powered the Cougars and Derek Pritchard finished with 10.
