MIDDLETOWN >> Two varsity boys basketball teams trying to stay within range of the North Central League I leaders squared off Tuesday night in Middletown and it was the host Mustangs dominating the Lower Lake Trojans 59-30.
Middletown (3-2, 10-6) remains two games off the pace set by defending champion Kelseyville (5-0). Clear Lake and Cloverdale are 4-1.
“We were playing really good defense,” Middletown coach G.J. Rockwell said. “(Trey) O’Neill set the tone on defense for us.”
While O’Neill scored only two points for the Mustangs, he was all over the court on a night when Middletown had a short bench because of the flu bug that his hit the school in recent weeks. “He did a lot of things that don’t show up in the boxscore.”
O’Neill also did a few things that did show up, including eight rebounds, five steals and four assists.
Middletown built a 29-20 halftime lead before blowing Lower Lake (2-3, 6-11) off the court in the second half.
“Our team plays very poor in games where the crowd makes a lot of noise and really gets into it,” Lower Lake coach Tim Biasotti said. “I think we were more concerned about what the crowd was doing and what was going on in the stands instead of playing basketball. I try to pull a positive out of every game but the only positive I could take away from this game is it’s over.”
Thomas Cook’s 16 points powered Middletwon while Luke Holt and Andres Cervantes added 10 points apiece. Cervantes also was a force on the boards with 15 rebounds. Jeffrey Morris added eight points.
Izzac Carver’s 15 points led Lower Lake and Michael Taliaferro had seven.
Middletown also won the junior varsity game 51-44 behind 18 points and four 3-pointers from Will Chastain and 12 points from Will Aden. Tannie Pachie and Jorge Fonseca each contributed nine points in the win as the Mustangs improved to 4-1 in league play.
In other boys action Tuesday:
Kelseyville 60, Fort Bragg 50
At Fort Bragg, the Kelseyville Knights (5-0, 14-3) remained perfect in league play thanks to a truly balanced scoring attack against the Fort Bragg Timberwolves.
“We’re playing really unselfishly,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said. “We’re putting the win before personal points.”
Trey Conrad led the way with 13 points, Randy Pfann added 12, Scott Sanchez and Jon Vanderwall each had 10 and Adrian Villalobos finished with seven among the Kelseyville starters. Robert Chavez came off the bench to add another eight.
“Chavez did a wonderful job off the bench,” Conrad said. “He’s really starting to play well.”
The Knights didn’t have an easy time shaking Fort Bragg (1-4). They led just 30-25 at halftime and 46-38 through three quarters.
“We didn’t rebound defensively very well and that allowed them to hang around,” Conrad said of the Timberwolves. “They’re a very well-coached team. I thought we played well to win by the score we did.”
Kelseyville was less than 100 percent for the game. A handful of players and Conrad himself were not feeling well.
“It might be the flu that’s going around, I don’t know,” Conrad said. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to finish the game.”
Trey Conrad had 10 assists for the Knights, who never led by more than 12 points.
“Most of the game was played in a six- to 10-point range,” Conrad said.
Fort Bragg won the JV game 34-29. Bodhi Baird’s 12 points led Kelseyville and Jonny Rixen had nine.
Clear Lake 54, St. Helena 45
At St. Helena, the Clear Lake Cardinals reeled off a fourth straight league win as they prepare for Friday’s big home game against the Cloverdale Eagles.
Clear Lake (4-1, 10-7) and Cloverdale (4-1) are tied for second place in the league standings through Tuesday’s action.
“That’s going to be a big game for sure,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said. “We lost to them in the tournament (72-54 at the Redwood Classic in Boonville on Dec. 2), but I’m looking forward to the rematch.”
Against St. Helena, the Cardinals were without two players, Preston Jones and Jake Elsa, who missed the game because of illness.
“Both of those guys we count on for scoring,” De Leon said.
Clear Lake couldn’t break away from St. Helena (1-4) until the fourth quarter, finally pushing what had been a 38-35 lead going into the final period up to double digits.
“We had some real good easy looks in the fourth quarter that I felt allowed us to pull away from them,” De Leon said. “They hit a couple of shots near the end to make it a little closer.”
Tanner Hutton sparked Clear Lake in the second half when he scored 14 of his team-leading 19 points. Lucas Stahr finished with 12 points and held his own against his St. Helena counterpart.
“He had a solid game inside and I thought Lucas did a real good job with him (St. Helena center),” De Leon said.
The Cardinals also got a big lift off the bench from Seth Mix, who pulled down several clutch rebounds late in the game.
“He gave us some real strong play at the end of the game,” De Leon said.
Clear Lake won the JV game 57-27 behind 17 points from Darius Ford and seven apiece from Evan Coakley and Austin Land. The Cardinals are 5-0 in league play.
Upper Lake 66, St. Vincent 44
At Upper Lake, after laying an egg on Saturday against Roseland University Prep, the Upper Lake Cougars came back with a vengeance against St. Vincent in NCL II action.
And no one played better for the Cougars (4-1, 12-3) than did Hank Nevarez, who had a triple-double of 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals. He also had five assists.
“Nevarez was all over the court,” Upper Lake coach Justin Dutcher said.
Playing one of their better games of the season, the Cougars blew the Mustangs off the court in the first half while building a 42-22 lead. Upper Lake pushed its advantage to as many as 26 points early in the third quarter.
“We played great defense, we rebounded well, we shot well,” Dutcher said. “We came out focused and fired up.”
Kenny Hodges led the Cougars with 21 points. Colton Goetjen and Andrew Brackett took care of business down low for the Cougars as Goetjen finished with nine points and a team-best 20 rebounds while Brackett had eight points and 15 boards. Ray Moran didn’t score but did dish out a team-high seven assists.
Upper Lake faces another of the NCL II’s top teams Thursday when it travels to Santa Rosa to play Sonoma Academy.
“That’s a huge game for us,” Dutcher said.
Upper Lake also won the JV game. The score was not reported.
