LOWER LAKE — Semaj Clark scored 12 of Lower Lake’s 31 points in the second quarter as the Trojans, up by 17 at halftime, held off the Middletown Mustangs 69-66 in North Central League I varsity boys basketball action Friday night in Lower Lake.
Middletown (3-4 league, 10-8 overall) missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds.
“They played a hell of a game,” Lower Lake head coach Marcus Humphrey said of the Mustangs, who were without leading scorer Andres Cervantes (serving a one-game suspension). “I don’t know what he (Middletown head coach G.J. Rockwell) told them at halftime, but they kicked it into high gear.”
“I was proud of the way they came back,” Rockwell said of Middletown’s late charge. “But they (Trojans) shot well and played hard and beat us.”
Lower Lake lost its first four league games but closed the first half with three straight wins.
“Winning the last three, including games against Kelseyville and Middletown, that’s a big deal for us and has us feeling pretty good about ourselves,” Humphrey said. “The momentum is there.”
With Lower Lake up 16-12 after one quarter, the Trojans began connecting from long range in the second period. Clark (23 points) hit a pair of 3-pointers and Aries Brooke (16 points) sank 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to push Lower Lake’s lead into double digits. It was 47-30 at halftime.
Middletown closed to 60-48 after three quarters and made a couple of runs in the fourth quarter to get within striking range of Lower Lake. Vann Wilkins (14 points) sank both ends of a one-and-one to give the Trojans a five-point lead. The Mustangs cut it to three on their next possession. They got the ball back in the final seconds after Lower Lake failed to convert the front end of a one-and-one.
“A big win for us,” Humphrey added.
Gavin Watson joined Clark, Brooke and Wilkins in double digts with 12 points. Will Chastain’s 23 points led the Mustangs, Jorge Fonseca contributed 18 and Jimmy Rockwell finished with 13.
Of Lower Lake’s 10 3-point field goals, one turned into a four-point play in the second quarter when Watson hit a trey, drew a foul and added the free throw.
In the junior varsity game, Middletown beat Lower Lake 62-37 to close out the first half of league play at 6-1 and tied with Clear Lake for first place atop the NCL I standings. The Mustangs are now 16-3 overall.
Middletown got off to a great start, outscoring Lower Lake 15-2 in the first quarter and 34-16 in the first half. Roberto Chaires led the Mustangs with 18 points while both Zach Dubois and Luke Hoogendoorn added 12 points apiece. All of Hoogendoorn’s points came on 3-pointers. Cole Ketchum added seven points.
Middletown is home Monday against Kelseyville, home Wednesday against St. Helena and on the road next Friday against Clear Lake. Lower Lake opens the second half Monday at home against Fort Bragg and then hits the road for games Wednesday in Cloverdale and Friday in Willits.
In other boys action Friday:
St. Helena 56, Kelseyville 29
At St. Helena, in a battle to escape the NCL I cellar, the St. Helena Saints beat the Kelseyville Knights.
“We’re struggling offensively,” Kelseyville head coach Jeremy Linnell said of the Knights (1-6, 6-12), who once again were without starter Joey Mendonca (bad back).
“St. Helena played hard and shot the ball well,” Linnell added.
While Kelseyville led 13-10 after one quarter, St. Helena (2-5) outscored the Knights 15-4 in the second quarter to open up 25-17 halftime lead. The Saints continued to pull away in the second half.
In the JV game, Kelseyville made a 16-8 lead after one quarter stand up the rest of the way while beating St. Helena 58-50 to finish the first half of league play with a 4-3 record.
Kyle Leary led the Knights with 26 points, including an 8-for-12 night from the free-throw line.
“And most of those (free throws) were in the fourth quarter,” Kelseyville coach Oscar Lopez said.
Luke Watkins added 15 points in the win.
“We had a great night, even with two guys out,” Lopez said.
Kelseyville opens the second half of its league schedule Monday in Middletown.
Upper Lake 47, Sonoma Academy 46 (OT)
At Upper Lake, Louis Avalos hit one of two free throws with 10 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Upper Lake Cougars to their first NCL II win.
Sonoma Academy had a final shot to win it but turned the ball over with four seconds left and Upper Lake (1-2, 13-5) ran out the clock.
“Win or lose we wanted to play good basketball on both ends,” Upper Lake head coach Tony Arroyo said. “Mission accomplished.”
Upper Lake trailed 15-5 after one quarter but closed to 23-21 by halftime as Jay Arroyo buried a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the first half. The game went back and forth in the second half. The Cougars had a 42-41 lead late in the fourth quarter when Sonoma Academy pulled even at the free-throw line ato force overtime.
In the extra period, the two teams traded buckets before Avalos’ free throw broke the tie.
Avalos led the Cougars with 16 points and Benat Love finished with 14. While he didn’t score a single point, senior Hank Nevarez made up for it in other ways, according to Arroyo, who had nothing but praise for the play of his veteran guard.
“He played almost the entire game until fouling out in the overtime,” Arroyo said. “He was everywhere. I’ll have to look at the film to figure out how many steals and rebounds he had. His effort on both ends of the court pushed our guys to believe they could win the game.”
In the JV game, Upper Lake beat Sonoma Academy 42-36 behind 19 points from Kyle Grandi and 10 from Kai Young, who had two 3-pointers.
