KELSEYVILLE — The Upper Lake Cougars were hoping to take a 10-2 record into their Christmas break, but 9-3 will have to do.
Unable to generate enough offense and thoroughly outplayed on the offensive and defensive boards, the Cougars fell 57-44 to the Ferndale Wildcats on Saturday afternoon in the boys consolation championship game of the 48th annual Stokes Invitational at Kelseyville High School.
“They played hard and attacked the offensive boards with their length,” Upper Lake head coach Tony Arroyo said of the Wildcats, who took advantage of numerous second-chance opportunities to score, especially in the fourth quarter when they pulled away from the Cougars with a run early in the period to open up a nine-point lead, and with a second run after Upper Lake had closed to 48-43 with two minutes remaining.
Upper Lake’s cold shooting touch throughout the game only compounded matters. Even All-Tournament selection Dalton Slater couldn’t get much going as he finished with only six points.
“Nothing was dropping for Dalton, he couldn’t get anything to fall,” Arroyo said of his usually steady senior post.
No Cougar reached double figures in the scoring column although reserve Diego Velasco provided a bit of a spark off the bench with a team-high eight points, something that didn’t escape Arroyo’s attention.
“Probably his best effort,” Arroyo said.
Until the fourth quarter, Upper Lake and Ferndale played much of the game separated by no more than six points. The Wildcats trailed on several occasions but finally pushed ahead to stay after hitting back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the third quarter.
Upper Lake led 14-11 after one quarter and 24-23 at halftime.
Though reaching double digits in the win column before Christmas break would have been quite an achievement for the Cougars, Arroyo said he’ll take 9-3.
“I’m still happy with what we’ve accomplished,” Arroyo said. “At the beginning of the season I wasn’t sure how they would mesh, but they’ve done a pretty good job.”
The Cougars take a two-week-plus break before returning to the court Jan. 6 for a non-league game at Esparto.
