Team riding four-game win streak entering league finales
The varsity basketball Eagles are playing their best ball of the winter campaign this month, taking a four-game win streak into the final stretch of the league season.
Cloverdale (9-3, 15-8) is coming off a pair of impressive wins over Lower Lake (61-47) and Willits (63-40), maintaining third place all alone in the NCL 1 standings.
As of press time, the Eagles were preparing to finish up league play with upcoming road dates at Clear Lake (Feb. 5) and St. Helena (Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m.).
The team is also a lock to land a decent seed in the NCS Division 5 playoffs, which start next week.
The Eagles have landed
Cloverdale was riding the momentum of an 81-47 rout over Fort Bragg two nights earlier when it made the trek to Lower Lake on Jan. 30, emerging from a tight first half to win, 61-47. Leading the way for the Eagles were Josh Lemley (14 points, 13 rebounds), Mario Lopez (13 points), Shayne Turner (10 points), Chuche Maciel (10 points) and Keller Sibert (6 points).
The Eagles entertained Willits two nights later, on Feb. 1, powering to a 29-21 halftime cushion before icing it with a 17-3 fourth-quarter surge on their way to a 63-40 rout. Lemley was nearly unstoppable in finishing with a team-high 25 points, 10 boards and four blocks. Other top performers were Maciel (16 points), Turner (9 points), Spencer Hoover (6 points) and Andres Herrera (2 points, 8 rebounds).
