LAKEPORT — The Clear Lake Cardinals were so good on Saturday night that they led even before a second had ticked off the game clock. That’s no exaggeration.
En route to a 80-52 dissection of the Cornerstone Christian Cougars in the quarterfinal round of the North Coast Section Division 5 boys basketball playoffs in Lakeport, Clear Lake had a 1-0 lead before the clock started in the first quarter.
How’s that?
Cornerstone 6-foot-4 forward Ezra Hunter III, son of head coach Ezra Hunter Jr., warmed up the crowd with a spectacular dunk during pre-game warmups, which isn’t allowed. The resulting technical foul led to Clear Lake’s Darius Ford making one of two free throws for a 1-0 lead. The Cardinals (25-3) also were awarded possession as the game began and they scored on a Ford 3-pointer.
“He wasn’t happy,” Clear Lake head coach Scott De Leon said of the reaction of his Cornerstone counterpart to essentially spotting the Cardinals a 4-0 lead.
The Cougars’ situation wouldn’t improve. Although the Antioch team brought a fair amount of size to the Clear Lake gym, its weakness — outside shooting — was thoroughly exploited by the Cardinals.
“We sat back in a zone all night and that’s not something we do a lot of,” De Leon said.
The Cougars had a bit of success early on, according to De Leon.
“They would penetrate and dump it off to one of their big guys,” De Leon said. “They were able to match our baskets for a while, but we kept collapsing inside. We really packed it in.”
Cornerstone Christian also had no answer for the outside shooting of the senior Ford, who was hotter than the surface of the sun on Saturday night. Clear Lake’s high scorer with 26 points, he scored 16 of those, including five 3-pointers, in the first quarter as the Cardinals charged out to a 28-14 lead and never looked back.
“He was feeling it tonight,” De Leon said. “He just lit it up and some of them were deep. One was at least 8 feet behind the line.”
Ford went 7-for-14 from behind the arc.
Clear Lake had plenty of other offense as well. Center Jaron Mertle added 18 points, 10 rebounds (six offensive) and five blocks while guard Donovan Valadez added 15 points.
The Cardinals’ defense, which produced 14 steals, was equally lethal, according to De Leon.
“Spectacular, terrific defense,” added De Leon, who said senior Travis Howe led the charge.
Clear Lake’s big first quarter set the tone for the rest of the game as the Cardinals put together one of their best efforts of the season, according to De Leon.
“We played some of the best basketball we’ve played all season. We’re kind of peaking at the right time,” De Leon said.
That could be bad news for Clear Lake’s next opponent, No. 4 seed San Domenico (17-11) of San Anselmo. The Panthers visit Lakeport on Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a semifinal showdown, the winner of which advances to the Division 5 championship game Feb. 28 or Feb. 29. No. 1 seed Stuart Hall (22-7) hosts No. 4 Urban (19-10) in an all-San Francisco showdown Wednesday night in the other semifinal. Stuart Hall has beaten Urban three times this season while both teams lost to San Domenico during the regular season.
