LAKEPORT — Make that a 2-0 start in North Central League I play for the Clear Lake High School varsity boys basketball team.
Behind another double-double from Jaron Mertle, solid play off the bench from Preston Jones, and a strong defensive effort, the Cardinals turned back the Fort Bragg Timberwolves 76-45 on Friday night in Lakeport. Clear Lake, now 12-2 overall, took control of the game with a 25-9 second quarter, that after an 11-11 opening period.
“I thought we played a little tight in the first quarter,” Clear Lake head coach Scott De Leon said. “We really started playing well offensively in the second quarter and a lot of that was from steals by turning up the defensive pressure. I’m very, very pleased with how we played on defense.”
Switching up between man-to-man and trapping defenses, the Cardinals were able to keep the Timberwolves (0-1) back on their heels, according to De Leon. Clear Lake also flexed its muscle on the boards where Mertle had 15 rebounds (eight offensive) and Mix had nine (six offensive). Mertle also led the team with 19 points while Mix had 11.
Reserve Jones added another 13 points, including a team-best three 3-pointers, and Jason Johnson had nine points and two 3-pointers.
“He came off the bench and played very well. I’m very pleased with Preston,” De Leon said.
Ten different Cardinals reached the scoring column.
“We’re trying to spell our guys and keep their legs fresh and it’s paying dividends,” De Leon said of Clear Lake’s ample use of its bench.
In junior varsity action, Donovan Valadez led the way with 15 points as the Clear Lake JVs improved to 2-0 in league play with a 69-26 victory. The Cardinals wasted no time taking control of this one, outscoring the Timberwolves 27-7 in the first quarter. It was 53-16 by halftime.
“The end of the bench played more than the starters,” Clear Lake coach Phil Psalmonds said. “The starters played about a quarter.”
Evan Coakley and Treppa Marcks finished with 12 points apiece as the Cardinals improved to 11-2 on the season. Jack Daskam added 11 points.
Clear Lake’s teams are on the road Tuesday to play Lower Lake.
In other boys action Friday:
Middletown 55, St. Helena 46
At St. Helena, keeping pace with Clear Lake atop the NCL I standings, the Middletown Mustangs beat the St. Helena Saints.
Middletown is 2-0 in league and 9-4 overall.
No other game details were reported to the Record-Bee.
In the JV game, Middletown rallied from a 29-20 deficit early in the third quarter to beat St. Helena 61-41. The Mustangs switched to a press defense in the third quarter that turned the game around.
“We don’t do a lot of pressing but we needed to change things up a little bit,” Middletown coach Jon Hoogendoorn said. “The starting group couldn’t get into type of rhythm.”
Middletown’s reserves had no such problem, according to their coach. Justin Hollingsworth led the way with 12 points, Cole Ketchum and Victor Martinez each had 11, Benji Vazquez added nine and Zack Dubois had seven. Tanner Pachie also played well off the bench, according to Hoogendoorn.
“That was my press group,” he said. “We got a lot of easy baskets.”
Middletown is now 1-1 in league play.
The Mustangs are home Tuesday to play Kelseyville.
Cloverdale 71, Kelseyville 43
At Cloverdale, the Kelseyville Knights fell to the Cloverdale Eagles in a battle of two teams gunning for their first NCL I win.
“It was another frustrating night for the Knights,” Kelseyville head coach Gus Schillinger said. “We missed a ton of early baskets, including some layups.”
The farther behind the Knights (0-2, 3-11) fell, the more the frustration built.
“We starting turning the ball over and not getting back on defense,” Schillinger said.
While the Knights had success at times beating the Cloverdale press, they couldn’t capitalize on two-against-one breaks.
“Instead of attacking the basket we would pull the ball out,” Schillinger said. “The guys were getting down on themselves and we lost our confidence.”
Cloverdale (1-1) led 18-9 after one quarter and 37-21 by halftime.
“Things really snowballed from there,” Schillinger said.
One bright spot was the play on defense of Damian Ledesma, who drew Cloverdale big man Josh Lemley (20 points).
“I thought Damian did a good job on their best scorer,” Schillinger said.
Tyler Linnell’s 14 points, including three 3-pointers, led the Knights. After that, the scoring fell off to seven points from Bodhi Baird and six from Robert Chavez.
Cloverdale also won the JV game 51-41. Kelseyville scoring wasn’t available.
Kelseyville’s teams face another difficult road test Tuesday in Middletown.
