LAKEPORT — Two nights after struggling mightily in a 74-57 loss to the St. Helena Saints, the Clear Lake Cardinals came back Saturday to beat the visiting Fort Bragg Timberwolves 68-59 behind a 23-point outing from Ryan Damiata.
The win pushed Clear Lake’s record to 6-5 and into sole possession of third place in the North Central League I varsity boys basketball standings. The Cardinals also moved to 11-11 on the season.
Clear Lake started strong with a 18-7 first quarter and had a 31-18 lead by halftime. The third quarter turned out to be a nearly one-on-one battle between Damiata, who scored 14 points in the period, and Fort Bragg’s Lucas Triplett, who collected 19 of his team-leading 33 points in the quarter.
“They gave him the ball and basically said do what you can with it,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said of the Timberwolves and Triplett. “They just rode him.”
Triplett’s third-quarter show included hitting three 3-pointers from well behind the 3-point arc.
“And we had someone in his face every time,” De Leon said. “He just kept moving farther and farther back. He was hitting nothing but net.”
Fort Bragg entered the fourth quarter trailing by nine and managed to stick around until the final buzzer.
“It was a fun game to watch but a little nerve-racking,” De Leon said.
Max De Leon (15 points), Austin Davis (13 points) and Tanner Hutton (11 points) joined Damiata in double figures. Center Lucas Stahr, who missed the Cardinals’ loss to St. Helena with the flu, returned to action against Fort Bragg but at less than 100 percent. Even so, his contributions — five points and nine rebounds — were important.
“He played some big minutes in the first half but he’s still sick,” De Leon said.
Damiata also had eight rebounds. De Leon scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half.
Clear Lake hit the road Tuesday to play league-leading Kelseyville (10-1). The Cardinals are at Willits (0-11) on Friday before returning home Feb. 14 to play Lower Lake (5-6).
