UPPER LAKE — After sleepwalking through the first quarter, the Upper Lake Cougars came alive on defense and knocked off the Esparto Spartans 51-24 in a non-league varsity boys basketball game Monday night at Upper Lake.
Upper Lake (10-3) last played on Dec. 21 in the Stokes Invitational at Kelseyville and the Cougars never really found their shooting touch against the Spartans (2-6), who also were ice cold from the field.
“It was an ugly game overall, a poor shooting game by both teams,” Upper Lake head coach Tony Arroyo said. “But we limited their scoring for the most part.”
Upper Lake led just 5-4 after the opening period, but the Cougars stepped up the defensive pressure in the second quarter and that made all the difference in the world, according to Arroyo.
“We got some turnovers and we got some easy buckets,” Arroyo said of the Cougars’ 18-point second period. “Our defense turned into offense.”
And Upper Lake used that same formula in the second half to extend its lead to 36-17 through three quarters.
“Our defense was solid throughout,” Arroyo said. “They were bigger than us, but I think we outrebounded them and we got some second chances. We a got a couple of putbacks.”
Benat Love led Upper Lake with 13 points and Louis Avalos had 10. After that, the scoring fell off to six points apiece from Dalton Slater and Brian Jimenez.
It’s the first of three non-league games this week for the Cougars, who open their North Central League II schedule on Jan. 14 against St. Vincent in Petaluma. They are home Wednesday for a varsity-only game against Mendocino at 6 p.m., and they hit the road on Friday to play Laytonville, which will be the third meeting this season between the Cougars and Warriors (the series is tied 1-1).
“It’s a good tuneup week going into league,” Arroyo said. “Hopefully we can use these next two games to get back up to where we need to be going into league.”
Junior varsity
A 21-point third quarter helped the Upper Lake Cougars beat Esparto in non-league junior varsity boys basketball action.
Sammy Avalos and Kai Young scored 16 and 15 points, respectively, for the Cougars while Kyle Grandi added nine. Avalos, Young and Blaine Dutcher all made 3-pointers.
“We played hard and came on real strong in the third quarter,” Upper Lake coach Nick Williamson said. “It was a good, solid win. We played great defense and had good teamwork.”
