WILLITS — The first of two straight North Central League I road games for the Clear Lake Cardinals wasn’t much of one Tuesday night as the defending champions battered the Willits Wolverines 67-46.
Clear Lake’s varsity boys improved to 2-0 in league play and 11-3 overall. They’ll face another 2-0 team, the Middletown Mustangs, on Friday in Middletown.
“We just came up here and took control of the basketball game right from the beginning,” Clear Lake head coach Scott De Leon said.
The Cardinals led 24-7 after one quarter and 41-17. Clear Lake’s reserves played a chunk of both the second and third quarters as well as the entire fourth period, according to De Leon.
Willits (0-2) couldn’t handle Clear Lake’s pressure defense and the Cardinals took full advantage, especially Donovan Valadez (14 points).
“He had four steals and he converted all of them into layups,” De Leon said. “His defense and scoring was a nice addition tonight. “He plays tough defense but tonight he did a nice job finishing at the other end.”
Tyler Cerini also had 14 points for the Cardinals, two of them following his own steal that set up a slam dunk in the second quarter. Jaron Mertle added 10 points and Travis Howe and Matthew Martin had seven apiece.
With Willits’ big man out for the season because of an injury, Clear Lake’s Mertle and Cerini dominated on the boards. Both big men had five offensive rebounds.
Counting last season’s 14-0 run through the league standings, the Cardinals have won 16 straight NCL I contests. Dating back to the 2017-18 season, they’ve won 21 of their last 22, and that one loss was against Middletown to end the 2018 league campaign.
“It should be a really cool environment down there,” De Leon said with an eye toward Friday’s game in Middletown. “They get a lot of great support from their fans and so do we.”
In junior varsity action, Clear Lake worked over Willits 55-29 to improve to 2-0 in league and 12-1 overall. The three-time defending league champions will also have their hands full Friday in Middletown against the Mustangs (2-0, 11-2).
On a night when two Clear Lake starters were absent because of illness, Drake Smart and Maddox Albaum picked up the slack, each scoring 13 points. Ethan Maize led the team with 17.
“Both of those guys really stepped up,” Clear Lake coach Scott Persons said.
Clear Lake took a 44-20 lead into the fourth quarter and played its reserves the entire final period.
In other NCL I action Tuesday:
Middletown 61, St. Helena 46
At St. Helena, the Cervantes brothers, Andres and Sammy, scored every which way while posting double-double performances in a lopsided victory over the St. Helena Saints.
Andres Cervantes finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds while Sammy Cervantes had 17 points and 10 rebounds. The Mustangs also had their outside shooting game going, better known as 3-point marksman Jimmy Rockwell, who scored 15 of his 17 points on 3-pointers.
“Defenisvely we played pretty good in the first half and then got kind of lackadaisical in the second half,” Middletown head coach G.J. Rockwell said. “But we did what we needed to.”
The outcome of the game was never in doubt. Middletown had a 37-19 lead by halftime.
“The two Cervantes brothers played well and Jimmy was on tonight,” Rockwell said.
In the JV game, Cole Ketchum scored a season-best 21 points as the Middletown Mustangs beat the St. Helena Saints 55-30.
“He does a real good job,” Middletown coach Jon Hoogendoorn said. “He’s a good-sized guard, athletic and crafty when he gets into the paint.”
Middletown appeared to have the game all but won with a 27-13 halftime lead, but the Saints closed the gap to six in the third quarter, at which point the Mustangs (2-0, 11-2) went on a big run.
“We came out strong and were up 15-6 after the first quarter,” Hoogendoorn said. “I think they kind of went into cruise mode in the third quarter.”
Middletown hosts Clear Lake on Friday in a four-game set. All four teams from both schools bring 2-0 league records into the Tallman gymnasium, or “The Barn” as it is better known.
Cloverdale 64, Lower Lake 55
At Lower Lake, trailing 36-19 at halftime, the Lower Lake Trojans used a big third quarter to make a game of it in a loss to the Cloverdale Eagles.
“We changed up our defensive play at halftime, transitioning from a zone to a man,” Lower Lake head coach Marcus Humphrey said. “It really seemed to do the trick against them.”
The Trojans outscored the Eagles 21-10 in the third quarter to cut Cloverdale’s lead to 46-40. The Eagles pushed their lead back up into double digits in the fourth quarter before Lower Lake made another run to get as close as seven, aided by a four-point play from Semaj Clark, who was fouled while making a 3-pointer. The senior then added the free throw.
Clark and Ethan Watson each had 18 points in the loss and Makhi Johnson added 10. Watson had four of the Trojans’ seven 3-pointers.
“I’m really proud of the guys,” Humphrey said. “They stepped up and did everything I asked them to do. They played their hearts out. They’re already looking forward to playing them in Cloverdale (on Jan. 29).”
Josh Lemley led Cloverdale with 22 points.
Cloverdale won the JV game 52-50.
Fort Bragg def. Kelseyville
At Kelseyville, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves improved to 2-0 in league play with a victory over the Kelseyville Knights, who dropped to 0-2. The final score and other game details were not reported.
In the JV game, Kyle Leary and Luke Watkins combined for 33 points as Kelseyville beat Fort Bragg 55-26. Leary finished with 19 points, including five 3-pointers, and Watkins added 14 points, including four 3-pointers.
“We had a great shooting night,” Kelseyville coach Oscar Lopez said.
Ahead 21-14 at halftime, the Knights turned on the offense in the second half and quickly pulled away.
“That second half we kind of just erupted,” Lopez said.
The Knights, now 1-1 in league play, had 10 3-pointers as a team.
Both Kelseyville teams play a non-league game Wednesday evening at Hamilton City. They resume league play Friday in Cloverdale.
