FORT BRAGG — In a Sunday of high school boys and girls basketball action, the Clear Lake Cardinals made the extremely rare event even more memorable with a 43-40 overtime victory over the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in North Central League I varsity boys basketball action on the Mendocino County coast.
The North Coast Section temporarily suspended its rule prohibiting athletic competition on Sunday because of numerous COVID-19 postponements. Teams are now rushing to complete their league schedules before the playoffs open Feb. 15. Fall sports teams had the rule waived as well although Lake County schools never took advantage of it. Clear Lake’s junior varsity and varsity boys and all four of Kelseyville teams were in action Sunday, the Knights playing a four-game set against the Wolverines in Willits.
Boys basketball
Clear Lake 43, Fort Bragg 40 (OT)
At Fort Bragg, Clear Lake survived shots by Fort Bragg at the end of regulation and in overtime to beat the Timberwolves in a grind-it-out battle dominated by defense.
“We’re not going to score 60, 70 or 80 points, so we have to play defense,” Clear Lake head coach Mike Damiata said. “We played good defense the whole game, especially our bigs,” Damiata added of Jack Daskam, Cody Hayes, Maddox Albaum and, at times, Zane Robinson. “I used Zane there sometimes because he rebounds so well.”
The two teams went to overtime after Clear Lake’s Ethan Maize hit the second of two free throws with 15 seconds left to tie the score at 38-all. Fort Bragg had time enough for a final shot but missed it.
Robinson scored the final two of his team-leading 10 points on a basket early in the overtime period to put the Cardinals ahead to stay at 40-38. Maize hit one of two free throws a short time later to make it 41-38. Fort Bragg eventually cut it 41-40 with two free throws before Maize, with an assist from Robinson, scored on a layup to put the Cardinals up 43-40.
With time running out, Fort Bragg missed a 30-footer that would have tied the score and sent the game to a second overtime.
“They did not score a field goal in the overtime,” Damiata said of the Timberwolves. “We made it hard for them, made them take difficult shots.”
Clear Lake held Fort Bragg’s Rhett Bennett to just eight points and he eventually fouled out.
“We played tough,” Damiata said.
Daskam and Maize each finished with nine points.
Clear Lake (5-3 league, 9-7 overall) was right back on the road Monday night to play Willits, the first of four games in four nights for the Cardinals as they close out their regular-season schedule. They host Fort Bragg on Tuesday and Lower Lake on Wednesday before finishing on the road Thursday in Cloverdale.
Fort Bragg won the JV game 47-33. Head coach Shady Cerezo was on the bench for the Cardinals after he was erroneously ejected from a loss at Kelseyville on Friday. According to Damiata, Cerezo was cleared to coach the game because one of the two technicals charged to him was actually a bench technical and not called on Cerezo.
“The officials made a mistake,” Damiata said.
Kelseyville 61, Willits 47
At Kelseyville, warming up for a five-games-in-five-days stretch that starts Tuesday, the Kelseyville Knights worked over the Willits Wolverines in NCL I action behind 23 points and solid defensive play from Luke Watkins.
“I think we’re finally finding ourselves again,” Kelseyville head coach Oscar Lopez said. “We’re healthy for once and we’re becoming the team we were earlier in the season.”
Kelseyville (5-4, 9-9) had a 20-9 lead after one quarter and increased its advantage to 36-19 by halftime.
“We got out to a lead but it was a sloppy first half by both teams, a lot of fouls,” Lopez said. “It was pretty chippy, pretty physical and both teams exchanged technicals.”
The Knights ratcheted up the defensive pressure led by Watkins and Jake Keithly, who also had 12 points.
“The defense played tough,” Lopez said.
Manny Acosta added eight points in the win, including two of the Knights’ 10 3-pointers. Watkins had four 3-pointers and Keithly two more.
Kelseyville closes league play and the regular season with a stretch of games beginning Tuesday at Cloverdale. The Knights travel to Fort Bragg on Wednesday before coming home for three straight — Thursday against Willits, Friday against St. Helena and Saturday against Middletown.
“We’re finishing with some tough games,” Lopez said. “I’m kind of excited about that.”
Willits won the JV game 39-35, shutting out Kelseyville in the third quarter. Tyler Bryant led the Knights with 10 points, Ryder Leary added nine and Max Hommer had seven.
“They were hurt by turnovers,” Lopez said.
Girls basketball
Willits 51, Kelseyville 34
At Willits, Kelseyville played Willits on nearly even terms in the first quarter and stayed close for a half before the Wolverines (7-3, 11-6) pulled away for the win in NCL I action.
Kelseyville (1-8, 1-15) lost starters Emily Sandoval and Lily Wiser to fouls before it was over.
“The girls played really well. We were close up to halftime (trailing 26-17),” Kelseyville head coach Bonnie Thomasson said.
Willits led just 12-10 after one quarter.
The Wolverines outscored the Knights 15-8 in the third quarter to open things up. Willits hit three 3-pointers in the second half and also went 9-for-13 from the free-throw line.
Alondra Ortiz led the Knights with nine points, including two 3-pointers. Makayla Meyer had seven points.
The Knights are home Tuesday against Cloverdale, home Wednesday against Fort Bragg, at Willits on Thursday and home Saturday against Middletown to close out their league and season schedule.
In JV action Sunday, Willits beat Kelseyville 31-27 despite 11 points from Briana Davis and 10 points from Isabella Ostrand. On Friday night, the Knights fell 41-31 to Clear Lake in Lakeport with Cali Schnabl leading Kelseyville with 17 points.
