LOWER LAKE — In a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicates, the Kelseyville Knights improved to 2-0 in the North Central League I varsity boys basketball standings with a 55-43 win over the Lower Lake Trojans on Tuesday night in Lower Lake.
Kelseyville (2-0, 4-3) rolled into the fourth quarter leading 48-26.
“Overall it was a pretty well-balanced game,” Kelseyville head coach Oscar Lopez said in grading his team’s offense and defense. “We had a lot of guys who contributed.”
Among them were Luke Watkins with 19 points, seven rebounds and four steals, Manny Acosta with 15 points, and Adolfo Arias with six points and six rebounds. Joey Gentle came of the bench to pull down six rebounds.
Kelseyville led 18-9 after one quarter.
“And we kept attacking in the second quarter,” Lopez said. “We did a great job.”
Kelseyville’s man-to-man defense limited Lower Lake to just five points in the third quarter.
Lower Lake fell to 0-2 in league and 3-3 overall. The Trojans’ scoring wasn’t reported.
In the junior varsity game, Kelseyville own 60-18.
In other boys action Tuesday:
Clear Lake 53, Willits 38
At Willits, Graden Greer’s 17 points and Jake Soderquist’s 12 points and seven steals provided the spark in Clear Lake’s NCL I-opening win over the Willits Wolverines.
“Graden shot the ball well,” Clear Lake head coach Mike Damiata said. “He can take the ball to the rim or shoot the three, he can score from anywhere on the court.”
It was only the second game for a majority of Clear Lake’s players, who were late in joining the team because of Clear Lake’s deep run into the football playoffs.
“Our energy was better, our defense was better,” Damiata said. “We’re getting a little better every game.”
Clear Lake (1-0, 2-2) led 19-14 after one quarter and gradually pulled away from the Wolverines.
Greyson Wind also gave the Cardinals a huge boost with eight points and eight rebounds.
“He was pretty solid,” Damiata said.
The Cardinals open play against San Domenico (8-0) of San Anselmo on Thursday in the opening round of the St. Vincent Tournament in Petaluma at 4 p.m. The tournament runs through Saturday.
In the JV game Tuesday, Clear Lake beat Willits 45-41 behind 16 points from AJ Bruch and 14 from Payton Portlock. It was both the league and season opener for the Cardinals.
“For a first game we didn’t look too bad,” Clear Lake coach Shady Cerezo said.
Clear Lake plays Middletown on Friday at 3:30 p.m. in the opening round of the Cloverdale JV Tournament.
Middletown 65, Fort Bragg 26
At Middletown, after absorbing three straight losses last weekend at the Redwood Empire Invitational in Healdsburg, the Middletown Mustangs jumped back into the win column with a thorough beating of the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in NCL I action.
Middletown (2-0, 4-4) built a 20-6 first-quarter lead and continued to add to it with 17-9 and 18-2 second and third quarters.
“We had some steals right off the bat that got us going,” Middletown head coach Jake Diehl said. “We were headed the other way with the ball quite often and finishing at the rim.”
Adrian Backus helped set the tone for the Mustangs with team-leading totals of 19 points and 11 rebounds. Oscar Cruz added six points and eight rebounds while Nadav Dicovski finished with nine points and a team-best six steals and five assists. Elijah Diaz, Wyatt Moore and Brandon Costlow had nine points apiece.
“They were moving tonight,” Diehl said of his players on both ends of the floor.
Middletown’s starters combined for 15 steals.
Building a big lead early allowed the Mustangs to empty their bench and work on some things they’ll need down the road in league play, according to Diehl.
The Mustangs face Ukiah for the third time this season Thursday night in the opening round of the Stokes Tournament at Kelseyville High School.
Middletown won the JV game 45-39 behind Jon Hawkins’ double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds and a team-high 12 points from Aidan Wilson.
“Hawkins … he’s been like a nightly double-double guy for us,” Middletown coach Wyatt Hall said.
Middletown took control of the game early, outscoring Fort Bragg 16-4 in the first quarter. While the Timberwolves were able to close that gap to 25-17 by halftime, the Mustangs never gave up their lead in the second half.
Hall also praised the play of reserve TJ Allred.
“He came off the bench and gave us some good minutes,” Hall said.
Middletown plays Clear Lake in the opening round of the Cloverdale JV Tournament on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Upper Lake 55, Victory Christian 20
At Upper Lake, Johnny Gozony and Darian Loans Arrow finished with 11 points apiece and Robert Rosin added 10 as Upper Lake beat Victory Christian of Santa Rosa in NCL II action.
Upper Lake improved to 1-1 in league play and 4-4 overall.
“Everybody got in, everybody contributed,” Upper Lake head coach Miles Hayes said.
Victory Christian, a team made up of primarily freshmen and sophomores, didn’t offer up much resistance, according to Hayes.
“It was a good practice game for us, but our boys played hard,” he said. “A win is a win.”
Nick Barnes had eight points for the Cougars.
Upper Lake is on the road Thursday to play John Swett in Crockett. Junior varsity action tips off at 5 p.m.
