KELSEYVILLE >> Kelseyville stayed close for three-plus quarters, but the Fortuna Huskies pulled away in the final minutes and ended the Knights’ season with a 65-48 victory on Wednesday night in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division IV boys basketball playoffs at Kelseyville.
Fortuna (17-11), the No. 9 seed, advances to the quarterfinals on Saturday and will play No. 1 seed St. Joseph Notre Dame (20-9). Kelseyville’s season ends at 22-5.
“It was a fantastic year by this group of players, one of the most special groups of kids I’ve been around,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said. “I’m disappointed for them that we lost and I’m disappointed that we’re done and won’t be together again.”
Kelseyville, the two-time defending North Central League I champion, trailed only 32-27 at halftime against the hot-shooting Fortuna squad, but the Huskies pushed out to a 45-36 lead after three quarters.
“We were in it going to the fourth quarter, but we were trying to do too much and it kind of got away from us,” Conrad said.
Fortuna set the tone early by hitting its first eight shots from the field. The Huskies sank five 3-pointers in the opening period while building a 23-16 lead.
While the Knights were able to slow down the game and work the ball inside – Vermontay Luia finished with 10 points – it wasn’t enough to counter the Huskies’ dead-eye shooting and a lack of rebounding by Kelseyville.
“We didn’t rebound all game,” Conrad said. “We weren’t physical enough rebounding the ball and it cost us.”
Trey Conrad, playing in his final high school game, led the Knights with 18 points. Two other seniors, Scott Sanchez and Randy Pfann, added eight points apiece.
“This group of kids competed in every single game,” Conrad said. “They took what we did last year (22-6 overall record) and built on it.”
