The Dragon boys hoopsters dropped their opening game Tuesday, losing to Terra Linda, 57-44.
Sonoma held a slim 12-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, but couldn’t hold it.
Coach Mike Boles said turnovers hurt the Dragons. “It was a simple case of too many turnovers,” he said. “We played well in the first half despite nine turnovers. Then we fell apart in the third quarter, allowing Terra Linda to increase their lead.”
The Dragons found themselves down 26-19 at the half, and the Trojans increased that lead to a comfortable 45-29 margin by the end of the third quarter.
“We did stage a comeback midway through fourth quarter, but missed a couple of opportunities to get the deficit to a manageable position,” Boles added.
Junior Max Gustafson led the Dragon attack with 15 points including three treys. Senior Luke Severson chipped in with nine, junior Dylan Samaniego had eight and freshman Jay Taylor had seven.
Despite the loss, Boles said there were positives, and they’ll build on those positives.
Sonoma is competing this weekend in the 45th annual Stokes Invitational Tournament in Kelseyville. In addition to Sonoma, Clear Lake, Rancho Cotate, Upper Lake, Elsie Allen, South Fork, Technology and Kelseyville will be competing.
The Dragons faced Clear Lake Thursday evening, results not available at press time. Friday games will be at 9 a.m., noon, 3 and 6 p.m. If the Dragons won Thursday, they’d play at 3 p.m. Friday. If they lost, they’d play in the noon game.
The tournament wraps up on Saturday with the seventh-place game at 10:30 a.m., the consolation game is at 1:30 p.m., the third-place game is set for 4:30 p.m. while the championship game is at 7:30 p.m.
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