LAKEPORT — The Clear Lake Cardinals took the first step toward repeating as North Central League I boys basketball champion with a 61-42 victory over the St. Helena Saints on Friday evening in Lakeport.
On a night when the Cardinals (1-0 league, 9-3 overall) weren’t at their best, senior center Jaron Mertle came through in a big way with 22 points and 12 rebounds.
“To be honest, we didn’t play particularly well, we were a little sloppy with the ball,” Clear Lake head coach Scott De Leon said. “Jaron kind of carried us. He had a really solid game.”
Clear Lake set the tone early with a 13-4 first quarter.
“I thought defensively we played with quite a bit of energy, especially starting the game,” De Leon said. “We rode that good first quarter all the way through the game.”
The Cardinals slowly built their lead the rest of the way. It was 31-17 at halftime and 46-28 after three quarters.
Tyler Cerini added 10 points in the win, Keanu Ford had nine, and Travis Howe and Treppa Marcks each had eight. Still bothered by a cold bug, Darius Ford finished with only four points but contributed in other ways, according to De Leon.
“He did a nice job even though he wasn’t shooting well,” De Leon added of Ford’s eight rebounds and six assists.
Keanu Ford, Darius’ brother, spelled him throughout the game.
“He did well coming off the bench,” De Leon said. “His defense was pretty solid.”
Winning when you’re not 100 percent is the trademark of a good team and De Leon said he’ll take the victory and move on.
“It was a good team effort, a lot of guys played,” De Leon said.
In JV action, Clear Lake, the three-time defending league champion, had no problem knocking off St. Helena 60-44 behind 25 points from Joey Soderquist.
“He had a great game,” Clear Lake coach Scott Persons said. “I think he missed only one shot.”
Jack Daskam added 10 points in the win.
Clear Lake had the game well in hand by halftime with a 39-23 lead. The Cardinals still had a 16-point lead after three quarters when Persons sent in his reserves to finish up.
In other NCL I openers Friday night:
Middletown 71, Kelseyville 62
At Kelseyville, the Middletown Mustangs scored the game’s final seven points and beat the Kelseyville Knights in the league opener for both teams.
Prior to Friday’s action, neither team had played since Dec. 21 when Middletown beat Kelseyville 54-32 in the third-place game of the Stokes Invitational at Kelseyville.
“They didn’t have (Joey) Mendonca the last time we played and he’s another piece of their puzzle,” Middletown coach G.J. Rockwell said of the Knights’ senior forward. “And (Bodhi) Baird was a one-man wrecking crew in the first half.”
Mendonca missed Kelseyville’s previous game with Middletown while serving a one-game suspension. He scored 19 points. Baird, a senior guard, had 19 points in the first half alone and led the Knights (0-1, 4-7) with 25.
“They’re a little more polished than we are and they executed at the end,” Kelseyville head coach Jeremy Linnell said of the Mustangs. “That was the difference in the game.”
“We came out ahead with a couple of good plays at the end by Sammy (Cervantes) and Will (Chastain),” Rockwell said. “And Andres (Cervantes) had a couple of key steals.”
“They switched up defenses, put some pressure on us and we kind of tightened up,” Linnell said.
Middletown (1-0, 8-4) had as much as an eight-point lead in the first half before Kelseyville, fueled by a 25-point second quarter, jumped ahead 39-38 at halftime. It was a tight battle throughout the second half, the lead changing hands a number of times. The Knights trailed 64-62 with less than two minutes to play when Middletown went on a 7-0 run to ice the victory.
“All those kids on both teams played their butts off,” Rockwell said. “It was a competitive, hard-banging game. It was fun to coach and fun to watch.”
Sammy Cervantes led a balanced Middletown attack with 18 points. Chastain was right behind him with 17, Andres Cervantes added 15 and Jimmy Rockwell had 13, including three 3-pointers.
Middletown returns to action Tuesday night in St. Helena while Kelseyville is home against Fort Bragg. JV games at both locations begin at 5:30 p.m.
In JV action, Middletown defeated Kelseyville 40-25 to run its season record to 10-2. Roberto Chaires led the Mustangs with 11 points, Lucas DaCosta and Cole Ketchum each had seven, and Luke Hoogendoorn and Zach Dubois added six points apiece.
Derek Huggins led the Knights (0-1, 5-6) with six points while Luke Watkins and Tyler Leary had five each.
“We just missed a lot of shots,” Middletown coach Jon Hoogendoorn said. “We were wide open on a lot of them, maybe too wide open.”
Middletown extended an 18-13 halftime lead with a 14-6 third quarter.
“They just outrebounded us we made constant turnovers,” Kelseyville coach Oscar Lopez said.
“They’re athletic,” Hoogendoorn added of the Knights.
Fort Bragg 77, Lower Lake 35
At Fort Bragg, with only six players in uniform, one of which was not sophomore center Makhi Johnson, the Lower Lake Trojans struggled in their league opener against the Fort Bragg Timberwolves.
Fort Bragg (1-0, 9-3) led 20-11 after one quarter and 44-19 by halftime.
“We stressed hitting the boards hard, but they outrebounded us,” Lower Lake head coach Marcus Humphrey said. “We had four guys going to the boards hard. They would get the rebound, make the outlet pass and get fastbreak baskets. They had a lot of two-on-one breaks.”
The Trojans (0-1, 2-5) certainly could have used Johnson’s 6-foot-2 frame, but he was participating in a football camp and unavailable. He’ll also miss Tuesday’s home game against Cloverdale (1-0, 9-2).
Joseph Hughes stepped up in Lower Lake’s absence, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
“It was really big for him, especially being a sophomore and a first-year varsity player,” Humphrey said.
Vann Wilkins led the Trojans with 16 points.
Fort Bragg also won the JV game. The final score and individual scoring wasn’t available.
