KELSEYVILLE — On basketball’s super highway, the Ukiah Wildcats spend all of their time traveling in the fast lane.
Behind 31 points from most valuable player Marcus Fenk, Ukiah completed a 3-0 run through the Stokes Tournament varsity boys bracket with a 68-53 victory over the host Kelseyville Knights on Saturday night at Kelseyville High School.
While Kelseyville (5-5) kept it close for a half and trailed only 31-25, Ukiah (11-1) pulled away during a 22-11 third quarter that was all about getting up and down the court in a hurry. Fast hands, fast feet and fast reflexes kept the Wildcats a half-step ahead of the Knights, who didn’t look anything like the team that lost 51-43 to Middletown a night earlier.
“That’s a good team,” Kelseyville head coach Oscar Lopez said of the Wildcats, who are coached by the well-traveled and highly successful Duane Nelson, who has made coaching stops at Laytonville, Upper Lake and Willits before arriving on the Ukiah where he led the varsity girls before taking over the varsity boys squad.
“Kelseyville did a good job of playing fast, too,” Nelson said of the Knights’ solid first half. “They came out and gave us some problems. The only other team that has done that to us is Justin-Siena.”
Justin-Siena of Napa, a state runner-up last season, handed Ukiah its only loss of the season to date, 67-49, last week during the Redwood Empire Invitational at Healdsburg.
That the Wildcats responded with a big third quarter to pull away from the Knights came as absolutely no surprise to Nelson.
“We’ve been a third quarter team all year,” he said. “In three games this season we’ve been down at halftime and have come back to win all of them. We make adjustments that seem to work. Most of our adjustments were on defense tonight although we made some on offense with our backdoor cuts because they were overplaying everything.”
“We fell apart a little bit in that third quarter but we battled back,” Lopez said as the Knights fell behind Ukiah by as many as 20 points — 56-36 — as Emery Mathis buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Kelseyville got down by as many as 23 points early in the fourth quarter before mounting a couple of mini-runs that cut into the Wildcats’ advantage. However, the Knights were never closer than 15 as Manny Acosta (17 points) hit his fifth and final 3-pointer of the game in the closing seconds.
“We played well and had a little bit of a chip on our shoulder (after Middletown),” Lopez said of his team’s rough loss to Middletown on Friday. “We love being the underdog. We showed we can go toe to toe with the big boys. It was a great bounceback performance after Middletown.”
MVP Fenk, a senior guard who wears No. 00, is the undisputed leader of the Ukiah pack, according to Nelson.
“He’s a competitor almost to a fault,” Nelson said. “There’s no stop in him whether he has the ball or not, he just keeps moving. He’s the engine. He’ll be sorely missed next year.”
Kelseyville briefly held the lead twice early in the second quarter — 15-13 on a Luke Watkins 3-pointers and 17-16 on an Adolfo Arias bucket down low. Fenk’s driving layup following a turnover put Ukiah back in front to stay at 18-17.
Fenk had 13 of his 31 points in the second quarter and he finished the game with four of the Wildcats’ five 3-pointers. Most of his baskets came on drives to the basket.
Tony Zacarias added 12 points and Mathis had 11 for the Wildcats.
Besides Acosta, Luke Watkins finished in double figures with 16 points while both Arias and Kyle Watkins finished with nine points apiece. Acosta and Luke Watkins joined Fenk and Ukiah teammates Zacarias and Thomas Durnil on the All-Tournament team.
Middletown 70, Potter Valley 35
Middletown locked up second place in the Stokes standings with an easy win over the Potter Valley Bearcats in the early boys game Saturday.
The Mustangs (6-5) led by double digits from early in the second quarter on. They were up 37-16 by halftime and 55-23 after three quarters.
“These guys followed up on our win over Kelseyville (Friday) with another good game,” Middletown head coach Jake Diehl said. “We created our own energy and finished the job.”
Middletown’s only loss in three tournament games came against Ukiah on Thursday.
“We were moving the ball around well and spreading the court,” Diehl said of the win over Potter Valley. “This team is playing good basketball right now. They’re starting to trust each other.”
Given the caliber of competition the Mustangs have faced in their first 11 games this season — they’ve played Ukiah three times, Kelseyville twice as well as Justin-Siena — Diehl said he’s quite happy with where his team stands heading into the holiday break.
“I don’t want a break,” Diehl joked.
Nadav Dicovski fueled Middletown’s attack Saturday night with a season- and career-best 28 points.
“He’s like the energizer bunny,” Diehl said of the 16-year-old senior. “He just doesn’t quit. His confidence has skyrocketed the last few games. He’s absolutely a force, he doesn’t take a second off.”
Every Middletown player who suited up against Potter Valley ended up in the scoring column. Adrian Backus and Elijah Diaz finished with eight points apiece while Brandon Costlow and Bodhi Moore had seven each. Oscar Cruz added six more.
Middletown’s All-Tournament selections were Dicovski and Wyatt Moore.
All-Tournament selection Russell Fansler led Potter Valley with 17 points.
