SUSANVILLE — Losing point guard Vann Wilkins to a rolled ankle early in the day left an already shorthanded Lower Lake High School varsity boys basketball squad in a tough spot Saturday during the final two rounds of the Mt. Lassen Tournament in Susanville.
Lower Lake suited up only seven players for day two of the tournament, which ended with two losses — 66-37 to Mt. Shasta and 66-40 to Lassen.
Wilkins left the floor against Mt. Shasta about a minute into the game, leaving head coach Marcus Humphrey with only six players.
“We basically played the rest of the day with only six guys,” Humphrey said.
And with Wilkins’ loss, Semaj Clark and Gavin Watson took turns running the point.
“So our guys had new roles on the fly,” Humphrey said. “Watson went from being my low post guy to handling the ball.”
The Trojans also had almost no time to rest between games – about 90 minutes.
“Not really enough time to go get food and recharge,” Humphrey said.
And Lower Lake, after battling a good Mt. Shasta press defense early in the day, was pretty well spent going into the Lassen game, according to Humphrey.
“We had some tired legs out there by the end,” he said.
In the loss to Mt. Shasta, Makhi Johnson led the Trojans with 13 points, Clark added 11 and Watson had seven. Against Lassen later in the day, Clark and Watson led the way with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Matthew Kincaid added eight points and Johnson had seven.
Lower Lake should have its roster up to nine players before it returns to the court Jan. 3 at Fort Bragg in the North Central League I opener for both teams.
“If everyone’s healthy, we’ll have nine,” Humphrey said.
