LAKE COUNTY — One game and one win away from clinching a second straight undefeated North Central League I championship, the Clear Lake Cardinals went on the road to beat a tough Cloverdale squad 61-52 in North Central League I varsity boys basketball action 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
Winning on Cloverdale’s homecourt, always a challenge for Lake County teams, wasn’t much of one this time around as the Cardinals, winners of 15 straight, took charge early and had a 38-21 lead by halftime.
“We have really stressed selfless play and team defense and I’ve been real lucky here the last two years with players who have bought into it,” Clear Lake head coach Scott De Leon said. “Tonight is a special night, especially the way we started. We came out on fire and that was the difference. That big first half really propelled us.”
While Cloverdale (12-2) could have clinched a co-championship by beating Clear Lake, that possibility went out the window not long after the opening tip-off. The Cardinals scored 14 of the game’s first 16 points and had a 31-10 lead midway through the second quarter.
“We were all business. It was a business trip. We were not going to share this thing,” De Leon said of the league title.
On a night when the Eagles did everything they could to take away Clear Lake big men Jaron Mertle and Tyler Cerini, both “mauled” in the second half by the Cloverdale defense, according to De Leon, it was another of the team’s savvy seniors who picked the perfect time to have the best game of his high school career. Travis Howe scored a team-high 26 points — Darius Ford was the next closest with 11 points — and Howe had an equally solid performance on defense, according to De Leon.
“Travis Howe played the game of his life … and it was on offense and defense,” De Leon said. “He was an absolute beast.
With the Eagles going out of their way to neutralize Mertle (nine points) and Cerini (six points), Howe beat his man time and time again, according to De Leon.
“Travis just took his guy off the dribble. He was unbelievable.”
The Cardinals carried a 48-30 lead into the fourth quarter.
“We had a 20-point lead most of the game, but I’ll give Cloverdale a lot of credit,” De Leon said. “They threw everything and the kitchen sink at us in the fourth quarter.”
While the Eagles were never closer than the final score, they made De Leon swallow hard a couple of times in the fourth quarter.
“You can’t relax, especially with Cloverdale,” De Leon said. “They never give up.”
Clear Lake hit a series of free throws down the stretch — two each by Howe and Cerini and another by Ford — to ice the game.
Dylan Muller’s 18 points led the Eagles while Josh Lemley had 12.
Junior varsity
In junior varsity action, Cloverdale clinched the outright NCL I championship with a 54-45 victory over the Cardinals (9-5). If Clear Lake had won the game, Cloverdale (12-2) and Middletown (11-3) would have shared the league title.
Ethan Maize’s 12 points powered the Cardinals while Drake Smart and Zane Robinson each had eight.
