PETALUMA — Undefeated San Domenico of Antioch hammered the Clear Lake High School varsity boys basketball team 62-23 in the first round of the St. Vincent Tournament on Thursday evening in Petaluma.
“They’re a really good team, really polished,” Clear Lake head coach Mike Damiata said of San Domenico. “Our rust really showed today and we couldn’t make a shot.”
Playing only their fifth game of the season and only their third with a full compliment of players, many of whom only recently rejoined the team after Clear Lake’s long postseason run in football, the Cardinals struggled in almost every phase of the game.
“It was just one of those games,” Damiata said. “This is what’s going to happen when you have players who have only practiced for a week and a half.”
Clear Lake (2-3) stayed close early, but San Domenico (9-0) used a 17-5 second quarter to open up a 29-12 halftime lead. It was 46-17 through three quarters.
“We played really good defense in the first quarter, not after that,” Damiata said. “We lost our legs in the second half.”
Graden Greer and Jake Soderquist led the Cardinals with only five points apiece.
Clear Lake draws Lower Lake on Friday at 4 p.m. in the consolation semifinals.
Elite 57, Lower Lake 53
In another first-round game at the St. Vincent Tournament, the Lower Lake Trojans led after each of the first three quarters before the Elite Eagles of Vallejo rallied down the stretch for the victory.
Elite (6-4) draws San Domenico on Friday in the winner’s semifinal round while Lower Lake (4-4) plays Clear Lake (2-3) at 4 p.m. in the consolation semifinals.
No other game details were available.
In other boys basketball action Thursday:
Swett 85, Upper Lake 31
At Crockett, the Swett Warriors improved to 8-1 on the season with an easy win over the Upper Lake Cougars (4-5).
Swett outscored Upper Lake 33-4 in the first quarter and led 49-12 at the half.
In the junior varsity game, Upper Lake cut a 44-12 halftime deficit to just nine points late in the second half before losing 65-52 to Swett.
“We made a good run late in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter, but it was just a little too late,” Upper Lake coach Thomas Santana said. “Early on they were blowing us out.”
Connor Vogel’s 22 points powered Upper Lake. Delaney Allison added 10 points and Beaux Stiritz had eight.
