COLFAX – Despite being idle for nearly two weeks, the Clear Lake High School varsity boys basketball team didn’t show the slightest trace of rust on Thursday night in the opening round of the Colfax Falcon Shootout at Colfax High School.
Behind 25 points from Jaron Mertle and 17 more from Darius Ford, the Cardinals scored 44 first-half points en route to a 84-68 victory over the Franklin Yellowjackets of Stockton. The win moved Clear Lake (9-1) into the winner’s semifinal round on Friday against El Dorado High School of Placerville, the team that beat Clear Lake in the semifinals of the same tournament a year ago. The Colfax Falcon Shootout runs through Saturday.
“Coming off the break (the Cardinals had been idle since Dec. 14) I was afraid we would come out flat,” Clear Lake head coach Scott De Leon said.
Franklin, a Division II school to Clear Lake’s Division V, came out in a pressing defense that didn’t bother the Cardinals much, according to De Leon.
“They were trying to press us, they stayed in the press the whole game,” De Leon said. “We broke it, broke it down and it left a lot of wide-open shots.”
And Clear Lake hit most of them while jumping out to a 25-13 lead after one quarter and a 44-29 halftime lead.
De Leon said an athletic and quick Franklin team did enough to keep the Cardinals on edge throughout much of the season half, but the Clear Lake lead was never in real jeopardy.
“They were very athletic, a great test for us,” De Leon said.
Mertle scored nine points in the first quarter to ignite Clear Lake’s offense and went on to register a double-double that included 10 rebounds – five offensive and five defense. Also scoring in double figures were Josh Damiata with 12 points and Tj Marcks with 11. Preston Jones added eight.
“We shared the ball well and played pretty solid defense,” De Leon said. “We had them on their heels the whole time.”
In the junior varsity division, Clear Lake beat Bear River 62-44 beind 21 points from Evan Coakley and 12 points and 12 rebounds from Treppa Marcks.
Clear Lake played El Dorado of Placerville in the winner’s semifinal round on Friday.
“His cleaning up the boards was big,” Clear Lake coach Phil Psalmonds aid of Marcks. “A lot of Evan’s baskets came in transition.”
The Cardinals improved to 8-2.
In other boys basketball action Thursday:
St. Bernard’s 48, Kelseyville 40
At Fort Bragg, the St. Bernard’s Crusaders jumped out to a big lead early and held off the Kelseyville Knights in the opening round of the Holiday Invitational at Fort Bragg High School.
The Crusaders outscored the Knights 19-6 in the first quarter. Kelseyville (2-8) cut that deficit to 35-33 through three quarters but couldn’t catch St. Bernard’s down the stretch.
Playing without two starters – Bodhi Baird (out sick) and Adrian Villalobos (out for medical appointment) – left Kelseyville a bit short-handed, according to head coach Gus Schillinger, who said the Knights suited up only eight.
We had a couple of other guys out for the holidays,” Schillinger said.
Jonny Rixen’s 12 points paced the Knights, Joey Mendonca added seven and Tyler Linnell had six. Robert Chavez anchored Kelseyville’s defense, according to Schillinger.
“He did a great job on their No. 23 (junior guard Lane Thrap),” Schillinger said of St. Bernard’s leading scorer with 16 points, only three of which came in the second half.
Kelseyville played St. Helena in the consolation semifinals on Friday. The winner of that game moves on to the consolation championship game on Saturday while the loser plays for seventh place.
Girls basketball
Middletown 47, Oceana 21
At Vallejo, the Middletown Mustangs beat Oceana of Pacific in the opening round of the West Coast Jamboree’s Amethyst Division at Jesse Bethel High School.
It was the third straight win for the Mustangs (4-5), who played Benicia in the winner’s semifinal round Friday at 4:30 p.m. The tournament runs through Saturday.
No other details were reported to the Record-Bee.
