HEALDSBURG — Kelseyville High School’s Adolfo Arias introduced himself to the Middletown Mustangs on Saturday afternoon, scoring 11 of his team-leading 14 points in the first quarter as the Knights built a 39-14 first-half lead and went on to win 63-34 in the consolation championship game of the 73rd annaul Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament at Healdsburg.
In the first of four scheduled meetings between the team teams this season — they’ll meet against next week in the Stokes Tournament at Kelseyville and twice during North Central League I play early next year — Kelseyville (3-3) came out red-hot from the field.
“I’ll tell you what, there was a lot of Adolfo Arias in that first quarter,” Kelseyville head coach Oscar Lopez said of his senior center. “He found his groove early.”
Arias scored most of his 11 points — five baskets and one free throw — in the paint as the Knights built a 19-9 first-quarter lead.
“I thought my boys did well at getting to the basket but we couldn’t finish,” Middletown head coach Jake Diehl said. “They (Knights) came out on fire and didn’t miss. They’re a really good team … my hat’s off to them.”
Kelseyville’s half-court pressure on defense in the second quarter resulted in a number of turnovers and fastbreaks as the Knights outscored Middletown 20-5. Uzziel Alvarez came off the bench to score all four of his points and give Kelseyville a spark in the quarter, according to Lopez.
The Knights also played well on the boards, with brothers Luke Watkins (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Kyle Wakins (six points, eight rebounds) leading the way along with Alvarez (nine rebounds).
“Luke found his scoring touch a little bit (hitting four 3-pointers) and Kyle did some work on the boards … they both did,” Lopez said.
Middletown (3-4) lost all three of its tournament games against some stiff competition — Justin-Siena, Ukiah and Kelseyville.
“We should have played a little better against them, there is room for improvement, but my guys are working hard,” Diehl said of his mostly inexperienced varsity squad.
Kelseyville, a team with a lot of returning talent from last season, also had a tough first two days at the tournament with losses to Windsor and Healdsburg, but the Knights never let down, according to Lopez.
“This was a good bounceback win,” Lopez said.
Kelseyville’s coach said the younger Mustangs shouldn’t be taken lightly moving forward.
“He’s got a young team but I think they’re going to be surprising some people down the road,” Lopez said of Diehl’s Mustangs. “It’s hard beating a team four times in one season,” Lopez added with an eye toward his team’s three remaining games against Middletown.
Manny Acosta joined Arias and Luke Watkins in double digits with 12 points and was named to the All-Tournament team.
Nadav Dicovski’s 11 points led the Mustangs and Wyatt Moore had six.
In other boys basketball action Saturday:
Clear Lake 61, Anderson Valley 52
At Cloverdale, filling in for a team that dropped out of the John McMillan Holiday Invitational at Cloverdale, the Clear Lake Cardinals used a 29-point fourth quarter to rally past Anderson Valley, the first game with the Cardinals at full strength after picking up several team members following the conclusion of the school’s long run through the football playoffs.
Clear Lake (1-2) erased a 39-32 deficit after three quarters by switching to a full-court press that produced a number of Anderson Valley turnovers and led to some easy baskets for the Cardinals.
“We were pretty ragged for three quarters,” Clear Lake head coach Mike Damiata said. “You could definitely tell they didn’t have their basketball legs under them yet. We were a step slow and we missed a lot of open shots, but we were able to hang around.”
Clear Lake trailed 15-8 after one quarter, pulled even at 22-22 by the half, but fell behind again in the third quarter.
“Graden (Greer), Jesse (Hayes) and Jake (Soderquist) created a lot of turnovers for us on the defensive end,” Damiata said. “And we hit all three of our 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.”
Clear Lake pushed ahead to stay 50-49 with about four minutes remaining and gradually pulled away from the Panthers, who didn’t score again until hitting a 3-pointer at the final buzzer.
Soderquist had a solid first game for the Cardinals with 14 points, eight rebounds, five steals and five assists. Cody Hayes led in the scoring column with 15 points to go along with eight rebounds, and Vicente Ortega, who started the game in place of an injury teammate, finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.
“Vicente played well,” Damiata said of the senior’s first varsity start.
Also for the Cardinals, Greer added nine points and Jesse Hayes had seven.
Clear Lake has four games scheduled next week. The Cardinals visit Willits for their league opener Tuesday and head to Petaluma on Thursday to play San Domenico in the opening round of the St. Vincent Tournament, which runs through Dec. 17.
Upper Lake 49, Los Molinos 46
At Maxwell, Darian Loans Arrow hit two clutch free throws down the stretch and Upper Lake’s defense did the rest as the Cougars beat Los Molinos in the final round of the Maxwell Tournament.
“We finally played great defense and we took care of the basketball there at the end,” Upper Lake head coach Miles Hayes said. “And we did a better job rebounding.”
Loans Arrow’s leadership was a big plus for the Cougars in what was a back-and-forth game during the final two minutes, according to Hayes. Loans Arrow finished with a team-best 15 points, including three 3-pointers, while All-Tournament selection Robert Rosin added 12 points and Connor Vogel 10. Vogel also played in Upper Lake’s junior varsity game against Williams earlier in the day.
“Vogel played a great game,” Hayes said.
Upper Lake was up 34-25 at halftime and 43-35 going to the fourth quarter.
The Cougars were down two players because of illness and essentially a third player with Johnny Gozony nursing a sore knee and unable to play much.
Upper Lake hosts Victory Christian in a league game Tuesday before hitting the road Thursday for a non-league game against John Swett.
Williams JVs 54, Upper Lake JVs 37
At Maxwell, Upper Lake’s JVs closed out play in the Maxwell Tournament with a loss to Williams.
Vogel’s 17 points led the Cougars (2-5) and Landon Robinson had 10.
“It was a back-and-forth game for three quarters,” Upper Lake coach Thomas Santana said.
The Cougars hit the road Thursday to play a non-league game against John Swett. They return home Friday to host their own tournament.
