LOWER LAKE — Joey Mendonca’s putback in the final seconds of regulation forced overtime and the Kelseyville Knights outscored the Lower Lake Trojans 10-2 in the extra period to secure a 69-61 win in North Central League I varsity boys basketball action Friday night in Lower Lake.
Kelseyville (3-9 league, 8-15 overall) has won two straight in league play.
“Tonight we functioned at the end and made our shots,” Kelseyville head coach Jeremy Linnell said. “Our kids are still playing hard.”
Mendonca led the Knights with 18 points.
“He battled his butt off,” Linnell said. “He got knocked to the floor on a couple of hard fouls but kept his composure.”
Tyler Linnell’s third and final 3-pointer of the game opened the scoring in the overtime period and put Kelseyville ahead to stay at 62-59. Lower Lake (4-8, 6-12) answered with a two-point basket but didn’t score again. The Knights made seven free throws down the stretch, three of them by Bodhi Baird (13 points), to seal the win.
Kelseyville also enjoyed balanced scoring. Besides Mendonca and Baird, Rafael Perez added 10 points, Linnell and Garrett Smith finished with nine apiece, and Brandon Garcia had eight.
Vann Wilkins had a big night for the Trojans with 33 points, including four of Lower Lake’s seven 3-pointers. The junior scored in every quarter, including 11 points in the first and 10 in the fourth.
“Lower Lake battled all the way,” Linnell said.
Semaj Clark joined Wilkins in double figures with 13 points.
In the JV game, Lower Lake defeated Kelseyville 61-50 behind 26 points from Marquis Jones and 20 from Anthony Hills.
Kelseyville rallied from a 27-15 halftime deficit to take the lead in the third quarter, one they dominated by outscoring Lower Lake 23-10. The Trojans reversed that momentum in the final period, outscoring the Knights 24-12.
Luke Watkins’ 21 points led Kelseyville. Tyler Leary and Derek Huggins finished with 10 apiece.
RUP 65, Upper Lake 52
At Upper Lake, the Upper Lake Cougars honored their five seniors — Benat Love, Dalton Slater, Hank Nevarez, Louis Avalos and Jay Arroyo — prior to the start of their regular-season home finale but came up short against Roseland University Prep.
“The game was a lot closer than that,” Upper Lake head coach Jay Arroyo said of the final score.
Upper Lake (2-4, 15-7) trailed by six points with two minutes remaining but couldn’t get any closer.
“We tried going to a man-to-man but we either fouled them or they would get easy breakaway baskets,” Arroyo said. “And when we fouled them they made their free throws.”
Roseland University Prep held just a 31-29 lead at the half but pushed its advantage to 48-40 after the third quarter.
When a few opportunities presented themselves down the stretch, the Cougars couldn’t take advantage, according to Arroyo.
“When we could have broken them, they didn’t break,” he said.
Slater’s 16 points powered Upper Lake’s offense and both Love and Arroyo had nine apiece. Nevarez finished with seven. Arroyo had three of the Cougars’ seven 3-pointers.
In JV action, Upper Lake started the game with only five players and finished with only four in a 56-43 league loss to Roseland University Prep.
“The guys played really hard, great game, they just ran out of steam,” Upper Lake coach Nick Williamson said.
Upper Lake’s top scorer, Kai Young (18 points), fouled out late in the fourth quarter. Angel Serafin added 11 points and Blaine Rhodes had eight, including two 3-pointers.
Upper Lake’s teams are on the road Tuesday to play Sonoma Academy.
Cloverdale 62, Middletown 26
At Cloverdale, minus brothers Andres and Sammy Cervantes, the Middletown Mustangs struggled mightily in a lopsided loss to the Cloverdale Eagles (11-1) in NCL I action.
“Their grandmother died and they’re both in Mexico,” Middletown head coach G.J. Rockwell said.
The Eagles already had a 29-15 halftime lead when they put the game away with a 20-3 third quarter.
Middletown is now 5-7 in league and 12-11 overall.
Will Chastain’s seven points and six more from Jimmy Rockwell led the Mustangs.
Cloverdale won the JV game 59-49 to take over sole possession of first place in the league standings. The Eagles are now 10-2 while Middletown and Clear Lake, a 65-57 loser on the road Friday night in Fort Bragg, are 9-3.
Individual scoring was not available.
