LOWER LAKE >> The Lower Lake Trojans are off to a 2-0 start in North Central League I play after beating the Willits Wolverines 56-40 in varsity boys basketball action Friday night in Lower Lake.
It’s the third time in the last four seasons the Trojans have won their first two league games. In 2016 under head coach Shannon Tubbs they went on to challenge for the league title and ultimately finished 10-4 in the NCL I standings. In 2015 under head coach Tim Biasotti, who is once again running the program, the 2-0 start didn’t lead to much as Lower Lake finished just 5-9.
“It’s always nice to start 2-0,” Biasotti said.
On a night when the Trojans, now 6-8 overall, were without leading scorer Hokulani Wickard, who was away on an excused absence, Lower Lake still had more than enough firepower to get the job done, led by 18 points from Darian James, 11 from Elijah Hernandez and nine from Izzac Carver. Gavin Watson, called up from the junior varsity squad earlier in the day, scored five points in his varsity debut, including a 3-pointer.
“Darian brings a lot of energy and creates a lot of turnovers,” Biasotti said. “He had a solid game.”
Lower Lake also won the junior varsity game 61-28.
The Trojans hit the road Tuesday to play Clear Lake in Lakeport.
In other boys action Friday:
Kelseyville 64, Cloverdale 48
At Kelseyville, the Kelseyville Knights outscored Cloverdale in all four quarters while rolling to a victory over the team they edged out for the NCL I title a year ago.
Kelseyville (2-0, 11-3) handed the Eagles (1-1) their first league loss in rather convincing fashion, building a 38-24 halftime lead that increased to 55-35 by the end of the third quarter.
“When we’ve been able to beat them in the past, it’s been a scratch ‘em dogfight,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said of past meetings with the Eagles. “We haven’t been on the end of one of these (blowouts) in a long time. Cloverdale is a high-scoring team and we held them to 48 points.”
The Knights benefited from another balanced scoring attack with Randy Pfann (16 points), Trey Conrad (15 points) and Jon Vanderwall (10 points) all reaching double digits and Scott Sanchez just missing with nine.
“When Randy leads us in scoring and Trey is scoring and getting assists (nine) like he did tonight, we’re tough to beat,” Conrad said. “Trey had one of the better games I’ve seen him play.”
Kelseyville’s rock-solid defense also did its job. Scott Sanchez played a big part in that with a team-high 10 rebounds.
“Just Scotty doing what he does,” Conrad said. “He was all over the place.”
Coming off a grueling 68-65 victory at home Wednesday against Clear Lake, Conrad said the starters needed a break or two during the game and his bench gave them that. In fact, the Knights reserves helped extend the lead while they were on the floor.
“We expended a lot of energy on Wednesday night and the bench really came through for us tonight,” Conrad said. “The bench did a fantastic job.”
In JV action, Kelseyville outscored Cloverdale 18-7 in the fourth quarter but couldn’t quite catch the Eagles, who held on for a 52-49 win.
The Eagles appeared to have the game well in hand with a 45-31 lead after three quarters, but the Knights rallied down the stretch. Cory Holt led Kelseyville with 15 points, all on 3-pointers.
Clear Lake 61, Fort Bragg 47
At Fort Bragg, Tanner Hutton scored 16 of his team-leading 26 points in the second half as the Clear Lake Cardinals pulled away during the final two quarters to beat the Fort Bragg Timberwolves.
“Any time you get out of Fort Bragg with a win it’s a good thing,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said. “This is a tough place to play and the long ride over here always takes something out of you.”
Clear Lake (1-1, 7-7) led 29-23 at the half but picked up its level of play at both ends of the court in the second half, according to De Leon.
“We had a sluggish first half and that’s kind of to be expected from the trip,” De Leon said. “We also played a really tough game Wednesday (a 68-65 loss at Kelseyville) and we didn’t have that same energy level here tonight.”
But between Hutton’s shooting and Lucas Stahr’s play down low, the Cardinals logged their first league win of the season. Stahr finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots.
“Fort Bragg is scrappy and they played us tough, especially in that first half,” De Leon said.
In the JV game, Darius Ford scored 20 points despite limited minutes and Joey Mendonca added 13 points as the Clear Lake Cardinals rolled to a 72-29 victory, improving to 2-0 league play and 12-1 overall.
Jason Johnson added eight points in the win as Clear Lake pushed out to a 34-19 halftime lead.
Both Clear Lake teams are home Tuesday to take on Lower Lake.
JV boys basketball
Middletown 48, St. Helena 36
At St. Helena, Jorge Fonseca led the way with 14 points and Will Aden tossed in another 12 as the Middletown JV squad beat the St. Helena Saints.
Will Chastain added eight points in the victory.
Results of the Middletown-St. Helena varsity game were not reported.
