LAKEPORT — Not in Clear Lake’s house.
While the Cloverdale Eagles had every intention of handing the Cardinals their first North Central League I loss in almost two full calendar years, Jaron Mertle and Tyler Cerini had other ideas Friday night in Clear Lake’s 69-59 win at Lakeport.
In a game matching two teams with 6-0 league records and nearly identical overall records, it was the Cardinals who extended their NCL I winning streak to 21 in a row.
“Neither of us played a lot of guys,” Clear Lake head coach Scott De Leon said of Cloverdale counterpart Pat Fitzgerald. “It was a war, a war of attrition. Both teams just laid it out there.”
And no one more so than Mertle, who scored 18 of his team leading 28 points in the second half.
“He took over,” De Leon said of his big man. “During a timeout he said ‘Give me the ball, they can’t guard me.’ I’ve never seen him like that.”
In what had been a close game throughout, the Cardinals (7-0, 16-3) pulled away midway through the fourth quarter. Mertle buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 56-47 and the Eagles couldn’t recover. The senior center then stole the ball and scored on a driving layup with a little more than three minutes remaining to seal the victory. Cloverdale (6-1, 15-3) got as close as six points down the stretch but Clear Lake’s lead was never in danger.
While Mertle’s scoring surge late in the game was key, so was the Cardinals’ rebounding, most notably on the offensive boards in the fourth quarter. Tyler Cerini, Clear Lake’s other big man, had most of his six offensive rebounds in the final period and Mertle added a couple more.
“We had some huge offensive rebounds by Cerini,” De Leon said.
The Cardinals’ ballhandling in the face of heavy pressure from the Cloverdale defense was nothing short of outstanding, according to De Leon.
“We only had six turnovers against their tremendous pressure,” he said.
Clear Lake trailed 22-19 after one quarter, pushed ahead 36-31 by halftime and still had that five-point cushion – 50-45 – going into the final period.
Strong defense from Travis Howe also helped shut down Cloverdale point guard Dylan Muller, who was held to six points.
Cloverdale’s chief weapon, 6-foot-6 junior center Josh Lemley, finished with 21 points.
“We doubled Lemley a lot, he’s a scoring machine,” De Leon said. “You’re not going to stop him, you just have to try and kind of control him and I thought we did that.”
De Leon also had high praise for the play of Clear Lake junior guard Donovan Valadez, who tweaked his ankle early in the game but managed to stay on the floor.
“Donovan played great,” De Leon said.
Cloverdale led by as many as six points in the first half, but Clear Lake was able to chip away and eventually push in front thanks in large part to its defense, according to De Leon.
“We picked up our defensive pressure in the second quarter, but we really picked it up in the second half,” he said.
Valadez (12 points) and Cerini (10 points) joined Mertle in double figures while Darius Ford added nine points and Howe eight.
The Cardinals begin the second half of their league schedule Monday night in St. Helena. They are home Wednesday against Willits and Friday against Middletown.
In junior varsity action, the Cloverdale Eagles knocked Clear Lake from the undefeated ranks in the NCL I standings with a 65-59 victory. Clear Lake is now 6-1 in league and 17-2 overall.
“We just got outhustled, it’s that simple,” Clear Lake coach Scott Persons said. “I take some of the blame for not having them prepared.”
Ethan Maize led the Cardinals with 17 points, Drake Smart added 15, Jack Daskam had 11 and Joey Soderquist finished with nine.
