COLFAX >> Colfax junior forward Garren O’Keefe scored 11 of his team-leading 31 points down the stretch as the Falcons beat the Clear Lake Cardinals 65-55 in the third-place game of the Falcon Shootout on Thursday night in Colfax.
“Their big guy just killed us,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said of the 6-foot-5 O’Keefe. “We had no answer for him. He had a heck of a game and we couldn’t move him.”
Colfax took a 40-39 lead into the fourth quarter and gradually pulled away from the Cardinals (5-7) in the final minutes.
The two teams were never separated by much for the better part of the game. Colfax led 13-6 after one quarter but Clear Lake closed that gap to 25-24 by halftime.
“We played really well, they just beat us on the inside,” De Leon said of O’Keefe and company.
O’Keefe not only proved to be a force down low but at the free-throw line where he went 7-for-7.
Ryan Damiata’s 20 points powered the Cardinals, who beat Foresthill in the tournament opener before losing a hard-fought 69-61 decision to Mesa Verde in the semifinals on Wednesday night.
Damiata and Tanner Hutton, who finished with 14 points against Colfax, were named to the All-Tournament team. Max De Leon had 13 points.
“I’m happy we came down to this tournament,” De Leon said.
Clear Lake faces a third straight tough test Tuesday night when it opens its North Central League I schedule at home against two-time defending league champion Cloverdale.
