CARDS, ’STANGS CAP PRESEASON
CLHS boys, MHS girls close tough non-league schedule during 2019-20 basketball season
LA H EOUNTY >> It wasn’t all a bed of roses for the Clear Lake High School varsity boys basketball team during a memorable 2019-20 season that produced a 27-5 overall record, the team’s second 27-win campaign in as many seasons. There were a few thorns along the way too, including a late December road swing through the Sierra foothills.
Until the COVID-19- delayed 2020-21 sports season starts, the Lake County Record-Bee will take a look back at the local sports happenings of a year ago and the teams and athletes who were making the headlines.
Varsity boys basketball
Looking to sharpen their skills one last time before the start of North Central League I play, the Clear Lake Cardinals and head coach Scott De Leon played a series of three non-league road games on consecutive nights against opponents El Dorado, Argonaut and Amador. After losing a 68- 66 thriller to El Dorado in game one, the Cardinals bounced back with a 73-51 victory over Argonaut. In their final non-league tuneup, Clear Lake suffered its most lopsided loss to that point of the season, a 73-51 setback to the Amador Buffaloes, featuring the senior guard tandem of Drew Andrews and Cam Thetford.
“Those two guys just carried them,” De Leon said of Andrews and Thetford.
Andrews scored all 15 of his first-half points on 3-pointers as the Buffaloes opened up a 22-10 lead after one quarter en route ot a 35-22 halftime advantage. He finished with 19 points. Thetford scored nine of his 17 points in the second half, all on 3-pointers.
“I thought we competed with them in the first half, we traded baskets with them early on, but he (Andrews) was the difference. We left him wide open a handful of times and he hits almost every shot.”
The Buffaloes made the most of the absence of one of Clear Lake’s top players as senior guard Darius Ford, battling a cold all week, played sparingly in the second half and finished with only four points.
“He’s battling a really bad cold and today was the worst day for him,” De Leon said.
Treppa Marcks led the Cardinals with 17 points, Jaron Mertle added seven and Tyler Cerini
had six. Clear Lake made a season-low two 3-pointers in the loss.
Amador improved to 10-5 while Clear Lake fell to 8-3. The Cardinals would lose only twice more the rest of the season, in the North Coast Section championship game to Stuart Hall of San Francisco (66-58 final) and to Lincoln of San Francisco in the NorCal quarterfinals (79- 42).
The loss to El Dorado in the first game of the threegame road swing marked the only time all season Clear Lake lost back- toback games (the Cardinals fell 54- 48 in overtime to Healdsburg in the championship game of the Redwood Empire Invitational prior to their Sierra foothills trip).
After the loss to Amador, the Cardinals reeled off 18 wins in a row, including a 14- 0 run through the NCL I for their second straight undefeated championship.
Varsity girls basketball
Middletow n High School’s varsity girls basketball team completed its preseason on a high note by placing second in the Amethyst Division of the 2019 West Coast Jamboree.
The lady ‘ Stangs defeated El Molino of Forestville 41-37 and Justin- Siena of Napa 40- 37 before falling to Bethel 62- 34 in the championship game.
After beating El Molino and Justin- Siena in tense, back- and- forth contests in the opening rounds of the Amethyst Division, the Mustangs ran into a buzz saw against the Jaguars of Bethel, who broke open a close game after one quarter with a 22- 6 second period.
In fact, Bethel outscored Middletown by a combined 34- 8 margin in the middle quarters for a 51-23 lead entering the final period.
Late in starting their season because many of the team’s players were involved in the school’s section championship run during the 2019 soccer campaign, the Mustangs closed out their preseason at 5- 5.
They would come on strong in leag ue play, however, rolling to an 11- 3 mark and securing second place in the NCL I standings.