PETALUMA — For a team that hasn’t practiced much the last three weeks, the Upper Lake Cougars turned in a near-flawless effort on Monday night while dismantling the St. Vincent Mustangs 68-38 in non-league varsity boys basketball action at Petaluma.
Upper Lake (3-0) had this game won at halftime with a comfortable 41-17 lead.
“I’m really happy with the way we came out and performed,” Upper Lake head coach Justin Dutcher said. “The way we came out and played was pretty darn impressive. We were able to control the tempo of the game and that was they key. It’s not easy winning down here.”
Kenny Hodges, Dylan Armstrong and Hank Nevarez all scored in double figures for the Cougars while Luis Avalos just missed. Hodges led the way with 25 points and 11 rebounds, Nevarez added 11 points and a team-best 12 rebounds, Armstrong had 12 points – all on 3-pointers – and Avalos finished with nine points.
“We were severely lacking in the size department compared to them, we just don’t have the big guys, so we went quick,” Hodges said.
Upper Lake’s trapping defense forced St. Vincent into turnover after turnover, according to Dutcher.
“And we were taking advantage of it,” he said. “We had 23 steals as a team.”
Hodges had six of those steals while Nevarez and Avalos each had five.
Leading 58-21 through three quarters, Upper Lake’s reserves took it from there.
“He didn’t play one second of the fourth quarter,” Dutcher said of Hodges, who moved closer to 1,000 career points with his big night. He is 70 points away and could reach that milestone at home this weekend as Upper Lake hosts the Cougar Round Robin Tournament beginning Thursday and running through Saturday.
Ray Moran dished out a team-best eight assists to go along with his six points for the Cougars.
Upper Lake hosts Willits in the first round of the Cougar Round Robin on Thursday at 8 p.m.
St. Vincent beat Upper Lake in the junior varsity game. Results were not reported.
