SANTA ROSA — Coming off an emotional 64-62 victory over Bentley in the championship game of the Paul Larrea Memorial Tournament on Saturday night, the Clear Lake Cardinals experienced something of a basketball hangover Monday during a 63-46 win over Rincon Valley Christian in non-league varsity boys action at Santa Rosa.
“We were definitely lethargic,” Clear Lake head coach Scott De Leon said. “We went from a big win in a packed house on Saturday to not many fans in the stands on Monday.”
Ten players cracked the Clear Lake scoring column but only Jaron Mertle (11 points) finished in double figures. He also grabbed seven defensive rebounds as the Cardinals improved to 4-0 on the season.
“We played better in the second half but it was still pretty sloppy,” De Leon said with an eye toward the turnover column. “We had 19 turnovers and that’s just way too many. I guess it’s a little to be expected after Saturday.”
Bentley had eliminated Clear Lake in the North Coast Section Division V playoffs each of the last two seasons.
The Cardinals put Rincon Valley Christian away with a 20-8 third quarter.
“They’re a scrappy team, not big but they have a couple of guys who can shoot,” De Leon said of the Eagles. “They were hanging right there with us in the first half.”
Josh Damiata had nine points for Clear Lake while Darius Ford and Rodrigo Lupercio each had eight.
Clear Lake is back in action Thursday against Placer at 3:30 p.m. in the opening round of Buck Bailey Invitational in Woodland. The tournament runs through Saturday.
In other non-league boys basketball action Monday:
Upper Lake 72, Esparto 39
At Esparto, Kenny Hodges scored 29 points and pulled down 14 rebounds — both team highs — as the Upper Lake Cougars bounced back into the win column with an easy victory over the Esparto Trojans.
“It was a nice, efficient night tonight,” Upper Lake head coach Justin Dutcher said. “We shot better, ran better and played better tonight than we did on Saturday.”
Upper Lake (6-1) dropped a 55-54 decision to Ferndale on Saturday in the championship game of the Cougar Round Robin at Upper Lake, the Cougars’ only loss of the season to date.
“We got back to playing the kind of basketball we play,” Dutcher said.
Luis Avalos added 13 points and Dylan Armstrong added 11, including three 3-pointers. Hank Nevarez yanked down 12 rebounds.
Upper Lake had the game well in hand by halftime with a 37-19 lead.
The Cougars face Willits on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the opening round of the Potter Valley Tournament.
Fortuna 70, Lower Lake 30
At Lower Lake, the Fortuna Huskies built a 38-17 halftime lead and cruised past the Lower Lake Trojans.
“It obviously didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but I’m not in the habit of avoiding the better teams and scheduling weaker opponents,” Lower Lake head coach Tim Biastti said. “We certainly know the things we have to work on after playing a team like that.”
Among the positives for the Trojans (1-3) were the play of sophomores Van Wilkins and Robert Vaughn, according to Biasotti.
“They never quit, they were still playing hard in the fourth quarter boxing out and fighting for the ball. That’s why there up here (on the varsity) playing,” Biasotti said. “The future is bright for both of them.”
Semaj Clark’s nine points led the Trojans, Mike Taliaferro added seven more and Wilkins finished with six.
Fortuna won the junior varsity game. The score wasn’t reported.
Lower Lake’s varsity returns to action Wednesday against Colfax in the opening round of the Live Oak Tournament, which runs through Friday.
