SAN FRANCISCO — While senior center Jaron Mertle scored the game’s first two points to give Clear Lake its only lead Saturday night, the Cardinals spent the remainder of the North Coast Section Division 5 boys basketball championship game chasing the Stuart Hall Knights at Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco.
Stuart Hall senior guard Kyle Jasper was largely responsible for that as he buried seven 3-pointers, most from well behind the 3-point arc, and finished with 29 points overall as the No. 1-seeded Knights beat the second-seeded Cardinals 66-58 to secure the Division 5 championship and deny Clear Lake its first section title since 1989.
Both teams advance to the NorCal playoffs next week after being bumped up to Division 4 on Sunday when the NorCal tournament field was announced by the CIF. While Stuart Hall enters the NorCals as the No. 1 seed in Division 4, Clear Lake was relegated to the No. 10 seed in the 16-team field and opens on the road Tuesday against Kingsburg (27-4) in Kingsburg (south of Fresno) at 7 p.m.
“We still get next week and I’m excited about that,” Clear Lake head coach Scott De Leon said when asked about the NorCal playoffs following the loss to Stuart Hall on Saturday night. “We’ll just see what happens tomorrow (Sunday).”
What happened on Saturday had a whole lot to do with Stuart Hall’s defense, which did everything it could to make Clear Lake’s two most lethal weapons, Mertle and senior guard Darius Ford, non-factors.
“They did a great job of neutralizing Darius and Jaron,” De Leon said. “That was their gameplan and they executed it.”
While the Cardinals (26-4) had a distinct size advantage with Mertle and Tyler Cerini on the floor, the Knights (24-7) used their speed, quickness and aggressive play to keep Clear Lake’s big men in check, especially Mertle, who finished with six points, well below his season average.
“They were very physical and you have to adjust to it,” De Leon said. “We didn’t adjust well in the first half.”
Clear Lake trailed 40-23 at halftime, Jasper leading the way with 14 points and four 3-pointers. The Cardinals were never closer than 11 points until the final two minutes of the game when they replaced all of their starters with reserves even if Stuart Hall didn’t reciprocate. Nonetheless, the Cardinals’ second unit scored three baskets, including a 3-pointer by Blaine Dutcher in the closing stages of the game.
While Ford finished with a team-leading 16 points, including four 3-pointers, he earned every single point, constantly badgered by a Stuart Hall defense that limited his shot opportunities or made them as tough as possible. He still responded, going 6-for-14 from the field. including a 3-pointer that opened the scoring in the fourth quarter, a shot from at least seven feet behind the arc that found all net.
Clear Lake appeared to be on the verge of making a run early in the third quarter when Donovan Valadez (10 points) scored seven straight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to cut Stuart Hall’s lead to 42-31. Just as though momentum appeared to be swinging in the Cardinals’ favor, Jesper buried his fifth 3-pointer of the night to make it 45-31, and the momentum was gone.
“He’s a very, very good player,” De Leon said of Jasper. “He knocked down his shots.”
While the Cardinals had hoped to return to Lakeport with a championship pennant and plaque instead of the runner-up pennant, De Leon said he couldn’t find any fault with his team’s performance given what they were up against in Stuart Hall.
“We can’t prepare for their speed and physicality in practice, there’s no way,” De Leon said of the Knights. “They took us out of our game. Their team is very well put together and well coached. That’s why they’re the No. 1 seed. Stuart Hall is a fantastic team.”
What the Cardinals did do was “play their butts off,” according to De Leon, until the issued was settled with two minutes left in the game. “We played with class, that’s why I’m so proud of this team. We’re disappointed with the loss, but we never gave up. I’m proud of the class and dignity we showed even though we lost.”
De Leon said the entire Lakeport community can take pride in what a small public school of fewer than 400 students has achieved this season, with the NorCals against more talented opponents yet to come.
“For a public school like us with a tiny enrollment to battle and compete like we do, that makes me just so proud of these kids,” De Leon said.
Notes
Clear Lake fans outnumbered their Stuart Hall counterparts by at least a 2-to-1 margin, maybe even 3-to-1, during the championship game. A rooter’s bus helped swell the numbers of Cardinals fans although many others drove themselves to the Kezar Pavilion, which has hosted sporting events since its construction in 1924. It is located next to old Kezar Stadium, the one-time home of the San Francisco 49ers. Clear Lake’s locker room was used by the 49ers back in the day … If the Cardinals beat Kingsburg in their NorCal opener and continue winning, they could end up playing as many as three straight games in San Fransciso — against No. 2 Lincoln in the quarterfinals (Thursday), against No. 3 University (Saturday) in the semifinals, and against No. 1 Stuart Hall (March 10) in the finals. The Cardinals have history with all three teams; they lost to Lincoln in last year’s NorCal quarterfinals at Lakeport, lost to University in last year’s Division 5 sectional semifinals at San Francisco, and lost to Stuart Hall on Saturday in the section finals at Kezar. So you might say they have a score to settle with all three teams … Clear Lake will certainly be the most-traveled NorCal team if its keeps winning. It’s 314 miles from Lakeport to Kingsburg, a one-way trip of 5 hours, 24 minutes … Kudos to the Kezar Pavilion staff who were nothing but accommodating to the Cardinals and the media.
