Eagles strike early, down Cards
Big second half lifts K'ville against Willits; Lower Lake gives St. Helena a battle
CLOVERDALE >> Casey Lemley isn't the fastest or most graceful player in Cloverdale High School's starting lineup, but the senior center gets the job done with brutal efficiency. He rebounds, he scores, he blocks shots and he helps the Eagles win games, which is the bottom line.
Cloverdale won another one on Tuesday night at home against Clear Lake, blowing out the Cardinals 64-41. The Eagles, now 7-0 in the North Central League I standings and 15-2 overall, never trailed and were tied only once — at 2-2 — before taking control of the game. In fact, it was Lemley who did that, scoring the team's first eight points and 10 of their first 13 as the Eagles went on a 15-0 run to go up 17-2 with a little more than two minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Early on it was Cloverdale's rebounding, most of it by Lemley, on the offensive end that made all the difference. Three of his first four baskets were the result of offensive rebounds. He finished the game with 17 points and didn't play at all in the fourth quarter.
“He's got a big body, he's in the right place and he's solid fundamentally,” Clear Lake head coach Mike Damiata said of Lemley.
Cloverdale had a 22-5 lead after one quarter. Clear Lake (6-2, 126) switched to a man-to-man defense in the second quarter and did marginally better although the Eagles still had a relatively comfortable 36-22 lead by halftime.
The closest the Cardinals would get was 10 points as brothers Cody Hayes, a junior center, and Jesse Hayes, a freshman guard, scored back-to-back baskets to open the third quarter and cut the Eagles' lead to 36-26.
Tatum Kurpinsky's 3-pointer put the Eagles back up 39-26 and touched off a 16-1 Cloverdale run that put the game out of reach once and for all. The Cardinals
were without both Cody Hayes and junior guard Jake Soderquist, their top two players, for much of that run. Hayes picked up his fourth foul with 4:08 left in the quarter and left for the bench while Soderquist sustained a minor hand injury after being fouled on a drive to the hoop a short time later. He joined Hayes on the bench although both players reentered with 1:04 remaining in the period, but it was too late by then to make much of a difference.
Both teams let their reserves play the majority of the fourth quarter.
“We've got to keep Cody on the court,” Damiata said of his leading scorer (16 points) against the Eagles.
Soderquist, who had an off night shooting the ball, finished with just five points. Jesse Hayes had seven.
“We can't make as many mistakes as we did tonight against Cloverdale if we want to keep up with these guys,” Damiata said.
Caden Axell joined teammate Lemley with 17 points and Kurpinksy added 10.
Cloverdale, the only remaining undefeated team in the league, is now two up in the loss column against Clear Lake, Kelseyville and St. Helena at the midway point of the league race. The Eagles still have a makeup game remaining with Fort Bragg, which was postponed earlier this month because of a series of storms that slammed into the Redwood Empire.
“We're 6-2 at the halfway point and I might have taken that if you had offered it to me at the beginning of the season,” Damiata said.
If the Cardinals are going to make a run at the league title once the second half opens on Saturday with a home game against Willits, Damiata said they'll need to do some things better. At the top of that list?
“We have to have better defensive energy for the whole game … we need to play four quarters of defense,” he said. “And we need to keep Cody out of foul trouble. This team is going to go as far as Cody and Jake takes them.”
One thing working in Clear Lake's favor in the second half is the schedule. The Cardinals play seven of their eight remaining league games at home, including against Kelseyville, St. Helena and Cloverdale.
“We only have one more road game (against Middletown),” Damiata said. “I think we have a good chance to finish strong. I want a home playoff game.”
In the junior varsity game, Clear Lake won 5931 to finish the first half of league play at 7-1. Kaden Graham's 15 points and 11 rebounds fueled the victory along with 12 points and eight assists from Zane McAuley and 13 points and seven rebounds from AJ Bruch. Jace Beard also had six steals.
Clear Lake led 31-14 by halftime.
In other NCL I action
Tuesday:
Kelseyville 66, Willits 47
At Kelseyville, the host Knights led just 19-17 against Willits at halftime, prompting Kelseyville head coach Oscar Lopez to remind his players that if they weren't up to the task, there were several JV players ready to move up and take their places.
“We just came out sluggish, flat like we did against Cloverdale (on Saturday),” Lopez said. “It was like it carried over.”
And Lopez said he was sick of it, regardless of the reason.
“I told them I was going to bring up JVs if they didn't want to play,” Lopez added.
Apparently the message got through as the Knights (6-2, 10-7) responded with a 23-8 third quarter and 47-30 second half. Manny Acosta scored 17 of his team-leading 29 points in the third quarter, including three of his five 3-pointers.
Luke Watkins finished with 15 points, five rebounds, four steals and three blocks. Gene Holdenried added seven points and five rebounds.
“We only really showed up for half a game,” Lopez said.
The Knights were without starter Kyle Watkins (sore shoulder), who was held out as a precaution, according to Lopez. “We wanted to rest him.”
Kelseyville opens the second half of its league schedule Thursday at home against Roseland University Prep.
The Knights also beat Willits in the JV game, 5128, behind 20 points from Brock Barrick and 10 from Jayden Teabo. Kelseyville improved to 7-1 in league play.
St. Helena 58, Lower Lake 46
At St. Helena, Lower Lake stayed close to St. Helena until midway through the fourth quarter when the Saints (6-2) finally pulled away for the victory that leaves them in a three-way tie with Clear Lake and Kelseyville for second place in the league standings.
Lower Lake (2-6, 8-9) outscored St. Helena 1912 in the third quarter to close the Saints' lead to 42-37. The Trojans got as close as four points on multiple occasions early in the fourth quarter.
Dylan Sherman led Lower Lake with 12 points, Micah Gurule added 10 and Buddy Felder had seven.
St. Helena also won the JV game. The final score wasn't reported.
Lower Lake opens the second half of league play at home Thursday against Middletown. The Trojans are on the road Saturday in Kelseyville.