LAKEPORT — Early in a stretch that will see them play six games in seven days, the Clear Lake Cardinals snapped a two-game losing streak Friday night with a 62-43 victory over the Roseland University Prep Knights in North Central League I varsity boys basketball action at Lakeport.

Clear Lake's Jack Daskam found himself surrounded by a trio of Roseland University Prep players while going up for a shot. (Photos courtesy of Trett Bishop)

With a schedule like that, which was forced on them because of numerous COVID-19-caused postponements earlier this month, the Clear Lake players might want to think about unionizing to get better working conditions.

"Practices aren't fun anyway so let's just go play games," Clear Lake head coach Mike Damiata said. "And that's what we're going to do."

Clear Lake's ironman schedule began Thursday with a 46-38 home loss to Middletown. The Cardinals are also home Saturday to play St. Helena, away Monday for a rematch with Middletown, home Tuesday to play Cloverdale, and away Wednesday against Lower Lake.

After a day of rest Thursday, the Cardinals go on another six-games-in-seven-days playing binge to close out the regular season.

And if Damiata had his way in those games, the Cardinals would play just the second half, which has been very good to Clear Lake in league play unlike most of the team's first halves.

Roseland University Prep's Isaiah Velazquez (left) knocks the ball from the grasp of Clear Lake's Jake Soderquist, who scored nine points in the Cardinals' 62-43 home win.

"If we could just play the second halves of games, we'd be undefeated," Damiata joked.

Clear Lake took a 30-27 lead into halftime before running away from RUP in the third quarter. The Cardinals outscored the Knights 21-8 in the period and never looked back.

"We didn't play a bad first half, but the energy just wasn't there like the night before when we played Middletown with a large crowd and a loud gym," Damiata said.

And just as in the Middletown game, the Cardinals entered the second half against RUP in all-out attack mode.

"It was a team effort," Damiata said of his team's balanced scoring.

"Everyone got to play a lot of minutes," he said.

Joey Soderquist led the way with 14 points, Zane Robinson added 12 points and Ethan Maize 10, and Jake Soderquist had nine more.

"Joey hit a couple of big 3s in the first half to get us going," Damiata said. "Zane had another good night."

In the junior varsity game, RUP defeated a Clear Lake team that was minus six players, including two starters and two key reserves because of COVID-19 protocols, 43-41.

Even with a depleted roster, the Cardinals had a chance to win the game in the final seconds trailing 42-41.

"We had a wide open shot," Clear Lake head coach Shady Cerezo said. "It hit the rim."

RUP came away with the defensive rebound and the Cardinals were forced to foul. RUP hit one of two free throws to round out the scoring.

Trailing 26-19 at halftime, the Cardinals rallied to tie the score in the fourth quarter but never took the lead.

"We just couldn't get over the hump," Cerezo said.

Graden Greer's 15 points paced the Cardinals and Peyton Portlock added 11.

Clear Lake's JVs host St. Helena on Saturday at 4 p.m.

In other boys action Friday:

Willits 53, Lower Lake 52

At Willits, Jett Guralas' bid for a seventh 3-pointer popped in and out of the basket as the buzzer sounded, leaving the Lower Lake Trojans on the wrong end of a one-point loss to the Willits Wolverines, a team they dominated 75-43 earlier this month in Lower Lake.

Both teams are now 1-6 in the NCL I standings while the Trojans drop to 1-14 overall.

Lower Lake went to the free-throw line trailing 53-52 with .7 seconds left, the result of a technical foul called on the Wolverines. The Trojans missed both free throws but still had possession of the ball. Guralas took the inbounds pass and immediately shot it, a deep 3-pointers that rattled in and out as time expired.

"It was halfway down when it popped out," Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said of Guralas' shot.

Guralas finished with a team-high 24 points.

"He shot the ball well," Jakubowski said.

While Lower Lake outscored Willits 35-18 in the second half, the solid play of the Trojans' defense during the final two quarters was every bit as important in getting them a shot at a win. Sparking that defense were Mason Barnes and Mitchell Noble, according to Jakubowski.

Gurule (14 points) also turned in another strong game.

Marquis Jones ran into early foul trouble and finished with only four points.

There was no JV game.

Tech 57, Upper Lake 40

At Rohnert Park, the Technology Titans ended Upper Lake's two-game NCL II winning streak without much trouble as they rolled past the Cougars.

A 43-36 winner over Upper Lake earlier this month in Upper Lake, Technology got off to a great start and led 25-10 after one quarter. The Titans continued to pull away and were ahead 55-25 entering the final period.

Upper Lake is now 2-5 in league and 8-9 overall.

Scoring and other game details were not reported.