LAKE COUNTY — Senior center Jaron Mertle scored all of his team-leading 27 points in the first three quarters as the Clear Lake High School varsity boys basketball team roughed up the visiting Willits Wolverines 70-41 in a North Central League I game held nearly a year ago today.
Until the COVID-19-delayed 2020-21 sports season starts, the Lake County Record-Bee will take a look back at the local sports happenings of a year ago and the teams and athletes who were making the headlines.
Varsity boys basketball
The victory over Willits was the 23rd straight in league competition for the Cardinals (9-0) and their 28th in the last 29 games. Clear Lake simply took care of business against the Wolverines (1-8), the league’s cellar dwellers.
“We know every team we face is going to throw everything they have at us,” Clear Lake head coach Scott De Leon said of a determined effort by the Wolverines in the first half. “We have to be ready to play every night, and we’ve got to play four quarters.”
Mertle had 11 of the Cardinals’ 21 points in the opening period and 14 of the team’s 27 points in the third quarter.
“It’s fun to watch him,” De Leon said of Mertle. “He works hard … in practices, in games. He’s getting rebounds and playing defense. I’m really proud of him. He has worked so hard to get where he is. It’s nice to see him enjoying some of the accolades he’s earned from his hard work.”
Willits trailed only 36-29 at halftime.
A 27-5 third quarter put the game into the win column for the Cardinals.
“We just turned on the defensive pressure in the third quarter,” De Leon said. “We switched to a trapping zone and they had a lot of turnovers.”
Clear Lake had 19 steals on the night, a good chunk of those coming in the third quarter.
Balanced scoring and tough defense – the Cardinals allowed just 12 points in the second half – are also Clear Lake trademarks and both were on display in the win. Travis Howe added 11 points, Darius Ford had 10, Donovan Valadez contributed nine and Tyler Cerini had eight.
“Travis was really tough (on defense) and Valadez had a solid game,” De Leon said. “Darius is doing all the things we need him to do.”
Ford led the Cardinals with seven assists and also had three steals.
De Leon also praised the play off the bench of Evan Coakley, who had six steals.
“His defense is pretty solid,” De Leon said.
In other varsity boys basketball action nearly a year ago today:
Cloverdale 86, Lower Lake 50
At Cloverdale, the Lower Lake Trojans couldn’t keep Cloverdale off the boards and paid the price in a lopsided loss to the Eagles (8-1).
“They had a lot of offensive rebounds and it just killed us,” Lower Lake head coach Marcus Humphrey said.
Cloverdale’s domination on the defensive boards fueled its transition game during a 23-10 second quarter that put the Eagles comfortably in front at halftime 44-28.
Semaj Clark led Lower Lake (3-6) with 14 points while both Aries Brooke and Lorenzo Zuniga finished with 11 points apiece. Vann Wilkins had 10.
