Cagers hoping to contend on competitive league hard court

The winter high school basketball season should be a good one for the Cloverdale boys, as the Eagles look to continue a tradition of excellence this year.
Cloverdale is coming off a solid 2012/13 campaign that saw the team capture third place in league with a 9-5 record, landing a spot in the North Coast Section Division-4 playoffs before finishing the season at 15-12.
Coach Steve Bernardi is back to lead a strong roster of 13 players, including six returnees from last year’s squad.
Although stopping short of making any bold predictions, the veteran coach expressed cautious optimism for the upcoming season.  
“My expectations for us are to be competitive and exciting to watch,” Bernardi said. “We’ll play hard every night and see what happens.”
The Eagles’ back-court will be among the team’s strengths, led by senior all-league returning guards Isiah Warren and John McMillan.  Warren was among the league leaders in scoring last season with an average of 18.4 points-per-game, while McMillan chipped in 8.4 per outing.
Other key returnees are senior guard Axay Patel, senior center Josh Holden, senior forward Zach Rege, and senior forward Shane LaPant.
First-year varsity players include senior guards Michael Goebel and Reed Motika, junior guards Greg Scaramella, and Jose Ruiz, junior forward Tamarind Driver, sophomore forward Adrian Bernardi, and freshman center Jayson McMillan.
The race for the NCL- 1 hoops title should be another dog-fight this year, with Cloverdale expected to battle top contenders Willits and Clear Lake for the championship pennant.
The Eagles will open the pre-season this week in the Foundation Game at Rincon Valley Christian in Santa Rosa on Nov. 26 (after press time), and begin tournament play on Dec. 4 in the Redwood Classic hosted by Anderson Valley.  Cloverdale will host the annual John McMillan Holiday Tournaments on Dec. 12-14.