LOWER LAKE — The Kelseyville Knights didn't have their coach on Tuesday night, but they had pretty much everything else they needed to beat the Lower Lake Trojans 63-46 in North Central League I varsity boys basketball action at Lower Lake High School.

With Kelseyville head coach Oscar Lopez serving a one-game suspension after being ejected from the team's 56-54 loss at St. Helena on Monday night, junior varsity coach Billy Shaul filled in and watched the Knights (3-3 league, 7-9 overall) pull away from the Trojans (1-7, 1-15) with a 25-5 second quarter.

Luke Watkins scored of eight of his team-leading 16 points in the second quarter while JV callup Max Hommer, a freshman, scored four of his eight in the period, the first varsity points of his career.

"His shots looked good and hopefully he's finally feeling like himself again," Shaul said of Watkins, who has been in a bit of a shooting slump of late.

Manny Acosta added a season-high 12 points in the win while Adolfo Arias added eight points and Joey Gentle six. Watkins made four of the team's seven 3-pointers.

"We just didn't want to play tonight," Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said. "We were settling for jump shots in the second quarter. We made three of four free throws and one basket in the quarter. We turned the ball over and Kelseyville got out and made a lot of layups."

While the Trojans played much better in the second half, outscoring Kelseyville's reserves 20-9 in the fourth quarter, it wasn't nearly enough to catch the Knights, who snapped a three-game league losing streak.

Jett Guralas' 15 points powered the Trojans, Micah Gurule added 13 and Marquis Jones had six.

Kelseyville jumps right back into action Wednesday night in Middletown as part of a four-game set before returning home Friday to play Clear Lake. Lower Lake is home Friday against Fort Bragg.

There was no JV game.

In other boys action Tuesday:

Upper Lake 64, RCP 35

At Upper Lake, though they played good defense in the first quarter, the Upper Lake Cougars couldn't find the basket early on and trailed Roseland Collegiate Prep 7-2 after one quarter, not exactly the kind of start head coach Miles Hayes was looking for in this NCL II contest.

With three quarters left to redeem themselves, the Cougars bounced back to rout the Grizzlies behind 33 points and four 3-pointers from guard Sammy Avalos.

"He turned up the defense," Hayes said of Avalos, who also had seven steals and seven rebounds. "He played a good all-around game as did Blaine Rhodes (10 points)."

With Upper Lake's defense setting the tempo, the offense came around in a hurry. After a two-point first quarter, the Cougars scored 19 in the second, 21 in the third and 22 in the fourth.

"He mentally played the game the right way," Hayes said of Avalos.

The Cougars' turnaround was pretty straightforward, according to Hayes.

"They started sharing the ball and moving the ball, and good things happen when you do that," he said.

Kai Young joined Avalos and Rhodes in double digits with 14 points.

Hayes also prasied the rebounding of Luke Summerfield, who had seven boards.

Upper Lake, now 3-5 in league and 9-9 overall, hosts John Swett High School of Crockett on Saturday in non-league action at 7:30 p.m. Upper Lake's JV team will play Victory Christian Academy at 6 p.m.

Cloverdale 56, Clear Lake 40

At Cloverdale, the Clear Lake Cardinals fell to the Cloverdale Eagles in NCL I junior varsity action.

"We came out flat in the first and second quarters and couldn't get anything going," Clear Lake head coach Shady Cerezo said. "They scored a lot in transition, we weren't getting back on defense."

Cloverdale held a 29-9 halftime lead.

"It seemed like the guys were a little exhausted from last night's game," Cerezo said of a 52-44 overtime loss against Middletown on Monday night in Lakeport. "We had better energy in the second half."

Graden Greer's 17 points led the Cardinals while Liam Orr added nine.

The Cardinals' next scheduled game is Friday in Kelseyville.