LAKE COUNTY — If you opened up the NorCal basketball tournament pairings Sunday evening and went right to the Division 5 boys bracket to see who Clear Lake was playing at home on Tuesday night in the first round, imagine the surprise of Cardinals fans who had to do a double-take, just like head coach Scott De Leon.
Clear Lake (26-4), less than a day removed from a 66-58 loss to top-seeded Stuart Hall in the North Coast Section Division 5 championship game Saturday night in San Francisco, was bumped up to Division 4 for the NorCal playoffs along with Stuart Hall (24-7).
That’s pretty much where the comparison ends. Stuart Hall is the No. 1 seed again for the NorCals and will be home Tuesday night to play No. 16 Santa Cruz.
And Clear Lake?
The Cardinals were seeded 10th in the 16-team Division 4 field and awarded a 5 1/2-hour trip on Tuesday to play Kingsburg (located south of Fresno and 314 miles from Lakeport) in a first-round game at 7 p.m. in Kingsburg.
“It was a surprise,” De Leon said of his initial reaction to being bumped up to Division 4 and seeded 10th. “I thought we stood a chance of getting a high seed in Division 5 and getting another home game or two. I’m deeply surprised, but there is nothing you can do.”
Rather than taking it as a slight, De Leon said he considers the promotion to Divison 4 a sign of “respect” for how well the Cardinals have played this season. The undefeated North Central League I champions were the No. 2 seed in the Division 5 section playoffs this season.
“The selection committee thought we could handle it up there (in Divison 4),” he said.
Did De Leon know where Kingsburg was located?
“I didn’t know,” he said. “I had no idea where that was.”
The state CIF will help Clear Lake with its traveling costs, including an overnight stay in Kingsburg following Tuesday’s do-or-die first-round game.
“We’ll drive down early Tuesday morning, stay the night and come back Wednesday,” De Leon said.
Kingsburg (27-4) is the Central Coast Champion. The Vikings finished second in the Central Sequoia League standings behind Dinuba.
“I can tell you they have a pretty decent record and a couple of really, really big guys,” De Leon said of the Vikings and 6-foot-7 center Logan Byrum and 6-5 forward Jose Martinez. “We’ve heard they shoot the ball well. They’re fairly athletic and play man-to-man defense.”
Clear Lake will attack Kingsburg’s defense every chance it gets, according to De Leon.
“I know we’re going to run and push the ball,” he said. “The best way to counteract big guys like they have is to run the ball and push them up and down the floor. We will.”
The Clear Lake-Kingsburg winner plays the winner of No. 2 Lincoln (San Francisco) and No. 15 Union Mine on Thursday in the quarterfinals at the home site of the highest surviving seed. Lincoln beat Clear Lake 76-58 in the NorCal quarterfinals a year ago to end the Cardinals’ season. Also lurking on Clear Lake’s half of the Division 4 bracket is No. 3 University (San Francisco), the team that beat the Cardinals in last year’s sectional semifinals.
Upper Lake
The Upper Lake girls just missed hosting a first-round NorCal game as they drew the No. 9 seed in the Division 5 bracket and will hit the road Tuesday to play the Portola Tigers (29-3), the North Section champions, at 7 p.m.
It’s not quite as long as the Clear Lake boys’ road trip to Kingsburg, but it’s still a lengthy one at three hours.
“I heard they’re a little like Cloverdale,” Upper Lake head coach Mike Smith said of the team that beat the Cougars (22-5) in the North Coast Section Division 5 semifinals last week.
“We both have one common opponent, Esparto, for what that’s worth,” Smith said.
Upper Lake beat Esparto 55-15 in non-league action while Portola defeated Esparto 75-30, also in a non-league game.
“I have confidence in our girls that we can go win this thing,” Smith said.
The Upper Lake-Portola winners draws the first-round winner between No. 1 West Valley (Cottonwood) and No. 16 Le Grand in Thursday’s quarterfinals at the host site of the highest surviving seed.
“If we go up there and get a NorCal win under out belts with this young group, what a great thing that would be,” Smith said of the Portola game.
