Kelseyville 54, Elsie Allen 42

Luke Watkins scored 19 points before fouling out with 5:22 remaining as the Kelseyville Knights and head coach Oscar Lopez punched their ticket for Saturday’s Stokes championship game against Middletown with a victory over the Lobos.

It won’t be the first time Lopez has reached the Stokes finals. He also did it in 2011 — as a senior playing for Kelseyville — against Justin-Siena of Napa, a game the Knights lost.

“Middletown will be a good test for us to see where we are,” Lopez said.

The two North Central League I rivals will meet twice more this season in league play. They are currently tied for the league lead at 2-0.

“It will be two defensive teams going at it,” Lopez said of Saturday’s title game.

The Knights led the Lobos by double digits almost the entire second half. Elsie Allen opened the third quarter by scoring two straight baskets to cut Kelseyville’s led to 27-20, but Watkins buried a 3-pointer to start a 8-0 Knights run. Manny Acosta’s 3-pointer right before the quarter buzzer gave Kelseyville its biggest lead of the night at 41-22.

The Lobos battled back one last time and were able to close to 50-42 on backto-back 3-pointers by Joe Suvanseng and two Ryan Phan free throws with 1:44 remaining. Again the Knights, who were now without Watkins, answered the challenge as Jake Keithly drained two free throws with 53.1 seconds left. After Elsie Allen missed a shot its next time down the floor, Keithly pulled down the defensive rebound and the Knights put the game away on a Tyler Leary basket with 10 seconds to go.

Keithly sank five of his six free throws in the fourth quarter, earning the praise of Lopez for his clutch play down the stretch, especially with Watkins out of the game.

“Jake stepped up and hit some big shots,” Lopez said.

Despite his team’s double-digit lead throughout much of the second half, Lopez said he never felt like the game was safely in hand until the final seconds.

“We were never comfortable,” Lopez said.

Kelseyville’s coach said he was pleased with the play of his defense, which held Elsie Allen to 16 firsthalf points.