Eagles’ center scores 22, has 14 rebounds
Senior center Jayson McMillan is the reigning most valuable player in the North Central League I and it’s an even-money bet he’s going to be in the discussion for that same honor again this season.
McMillan did nothing to hurt his MVP stock on Friday night as the Cloverdale Eagles won their seventh straight league game and avenged their only loss in the process with a 69-49 victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals at Cloverdale.
“He’s the best player in the league,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said of Cloverdale’s 6-foot-5 big man. “He dominates the key and he can score from anywhere on the floor.”
While dominating the paint on defense and forcing the Cardinals (4-4) to look elsewhere for their points more times than not, McMillan limited Clear Lake to one shot most of the game. Twelve of his 14 rebounds came on the defensive end and he might have had more on offense except that the Eagles hardly missed, especially in the first and third quarters. They were 10-for-15 from the floor in the first quarter and 9-for-16 in the third. McMillan had plenty to do with that as he collected 20 of his team-leading 22 points in those two quarters alone. He sat out the entire final period with Cloverdale comfortably in front.
It was a much better experience for McMillan than his Jan. 3 game against Clear Lake at Lakeport when he was forced from the floor early in the first quarter with a nose injury and never returned. His absence was a major factor in Clear Lake’s 58-54 win that night.
As solid a player as McMillan is, he’s surrounded by a talented host of teammates, including guards Christian Chavez (11 points), Gage Hoover (nine points) and Luke Pope (eight points), and forward Jordan Persons (seven points).
“Our guards played great,” Cloverdale coach Steve Bernardi said. “They do such a good job.”
Pope and Chavez combined for nine assists, a handful of them as pretty a passing job as you’ll ever see.
“They had unbelievable guard play,” De Leon said. “They are outstanding at every position and they also have the best player in the league.”
De Leon also had high praise for Cloverdale’s head coach.
“He might have a lot of talent but he knows what to do with it,” De Leon said. “His Xs and Os work, his ability to adjust. He does a great job and that’s one reason they are so good every year.”
Cloverdale scored 22 of the game’s first 25 points while building a 26-10 lead. Max De Leon hit a long 3-pointer for Clear Lake at the buzzer to make it that close. The Eagles connected on three 3-pointers of their own in the opening quarter.
“With the exception of the run they made to start the game I thought we played pretty well against them,” De Leon said.
Clear Lake hung around in the second quarter and was as close as 11 points, but Cloverdale heated up again from the floor in the third quarter and opened up as much as a 31-point lead, settling for a 60-32 advantage by quarter’s end.
Coming off 37- and 33-point efforts in his previous two games, Clear Lake’s Tanner Hutton led the Cardinals with 15 points. He was guarded early in the game by Emmit Lawson and later by Persons. Lawson shut him out in the first quarter.
Lucas Stahr finished with nine points for Clear Lake and De Leon had seven.
Cloverdale meets Kelseyville in a battle of 7-1 teams on Tuesday night in Kelseyville. The winner will be alone in first place atop the league standings.
In junior varsity boys action Friday, Clear Lake improved to 8-0 in league play with a 59-44 victory over Cloverdale. Rodrigo Lupercio led the Cardinals, now 18-2 overall, with 14 points.
