UPPER LAKE >> It proved to be bad timing for the Upper Lake Cougars, who were without a couple of key players during a 55-53 loss to the Tech Titans in North Central League II varsity boys basketball play on Saturday in Upper Lake.
Upper Lake (4-3 league, 12-5 overall) lost its first league home game with posts Andrew Brackett and Jacob Kalawaia unavailable to coach Justin Dutcher. Both players were absent so they could attend another school function (mock trial).
“Tech was big and we only had Colton (Goetjen, Upper Lake’s center) out there and he was playing on a bad ankle,” Dutcher said. “I couldn’t give him much of a break because even if he was out for minute they would take advantage of us inside.”
Tech (4-3) appeared to have the game well in hand with a 10-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but a pair of well-timed 3-pointers by Dylan Armstrong helped rally Upper Lake to within two points. In fact, the Cougars had a chance to win or tie the game with eight seconds remaining.
Upper Lake’s J.T. Claunch missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer, but he grabbed the offensive rebound and got off a two-point shot that found the range only to have the basket waved off by game officials, who said it came after the buzzer had sounded.
“It was pretty frustrating,” Dutcher said. “It’s a real bummer. We can’t just show up and get wins. If we had played the rest of the game like the final three minutes, we would have won.”
Junior guard Kenny Hodges certainly did his part to get the Cougars over the hump. He finished with a team-leading 26 points while Armstrong, who had four of Upper Lake’s five 3-pointers, added 14.
The Cougars wrap up the first half of their league schedule Tuesday at Tomales. They return home Thursday to play Roseland Collegiate Prep.
Upper Lake beat Tech in the junior varsity game. The score wasn’t reported.
