SAN FRANCISCO — No. 1 seed Urban gradually pulled away from Clear Lake and went on to beat the Cardinals 67-43 in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division 5 boys basketball playoffs Tuesday night in San Francisco.
The loss ends Clear Lake’s season at 17-10 and also was the final game for head coach Mike Damiata, who is moving to Idaho along with wife Rachelle this weekend. He will fly back to California later this month so that he can attend the team’s awards banquet Feb. 26.
Damiata took over the Clear Lake program in 2020 although the 2020-21 season ended up being canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cardinals came back in 2021-22 to go 13-9 overall, including 8-4 in league. They went 11-5 in North Central League I play this year.
“We’re taking advantage of some opportunities,” Damiata said of the reason behind his family’s move to Idaho. “Both of our boys (Ryan and Josh, former Clear Lake players) are grown and doing well, and we’re in a situation in our lives where we want to make a change and we’re doing it. The program is in good hands. We were a young team this season starting three juniors and a freshman most of the way. The future’s bright for these guys.”
Added Damiata, “The hardest part of the move is leaving the basketball team.”
Urban (19-8) advances to the quarterfinals Friday against No. 9 seed St. Bernard’s of Eureka, a 70-67 first-round winner Tuesday over Swett of Crockett.
“They’re a good team,” Damiata said of the top-seeded Blues. “We were a step slow all night.”
However, Damiata said the Cardinals achieved the three things he asked of his players going into the game.
“I wanted them to compete, leave it all out on the floor, and have fun,” he said. “We did that.”
Urban broke an 11-11 tie late in the first quarter.
“We were competing, but we caved into their full-court pressure a little bit right in the last couple of minutes,” Damiata said.
The Blues went on a mini-run to go up 19-13 by quarter’s end.
Urban added to its lead with a 16-7 second quarter.
Clear Lake was able to get as close as 12 points late in the third quarter before Urban again pulled away, this time putting the game out of reach.
While juniors Jake Soderquist and Cody Hayes led the Cardinals with 15 and 12 points, respectively, Damiata said the play of his two seniors, Liam Orr and Greyson Wind, shouldn’t be overlooked.
“Liam gave me good, solid defense and scored some points (seven),” Damiata said. “His effort and energy were there the whole game. He’s an intense player.”
Wind, also playing in his final high school game, added six points.
“Greyson does a lot of the dirty work,” Damiata said. “Both of those guys played well.”
While the Cardinals couldn’t come up with the big upset they wanted, Damiata said it wasn’t for a lack of trying.
“They (Blues) played a better game than we did. Our effort was nothing to be ashamed of.”
