Middletown finishes strong with third-place victory over Ferndale
Lake County Sports on Facebook
KELSEYVILLE >> Kelseyville played as hard as it could and as well as it could for as long as it could Saturday night in the Stokes Tournament championship game against a playoff-hardened St. Bernard squad, but the Crusaders simply wore the Knights down during a 59-36 victory that was every bit a game for the first two and a half quarters.
“They played as well as they could play, and played hard,” Kelseyville head coach Chaze Russell said of the Knights. “I couldn’t ask for much more.”
The Crusaders (8-1) are all about size, speed and efficiency. The smallest player on their roster is 5-foot-10, the tallest 6-5 senior shooting guard Liam Dyer, who led the team with 23 points and was named tournament most valuable player, joining teammate Prince Latimer, a 6-0 senior guard, on the All-Tournament team.
Junior 6-4 forward Garrett Shanahan, 6-1 senior guard Carson Costa (nine points), 5-11 senior guard Burke Morrow (eight points) and 5-11 junior point guard Trenton Hagler (12 points) all took turns wearing out the smaller Knights, especially down low as the Crusaders benefited from numerous second- and third-chance scoring opportunities.
A skilled passing team as well, the Crusaders were patient in their approach, working the ball inside and out as well as around the perimeter. While they certainly took advantage of their size to pummel the Knights inside, the St. Bernard squad also can shoot the 3-pointer, hitting five, the same number as the Knights.
Kelseyville, a team that has been red-hot from behind the 3-point arc, cooled off a tad as the Crusaders went out of their way to keep a close eye on one of the Knights’ hottest shooter, Nick Arredondo (eight points), but Kelseyville battled inside against the redwoods that are the Crusaders to hit enough two-pointers to stay close and keep the crowd in the game.
Though the Crusaders appeared on the verge of pulling away early, opening up a 33-22 lead late in the second quarter, a 3-pointer from Dominick Crawford and a Gordon Astrup bucket inside helped Kelseyville creep to within eight by halftime at 35-27.
The Knights again fell behind by double digits, 39-29, early in the third quarter before Astrup put back his own miss to make it 39-31, then Crawford nailed another 3-pointer, much to the delight of the partisan Knights crowd, to close the gap to 39-34 with 4:58 left in the quarter.
Unfortunately, the constant up-and-down pace of the game caught up with the Knights at that point. Before Kelseyville would score again – with 4:58 remaining in the game – St. Bernard had scored 16 straight points for a 55-34 lead.
“You could tell there was some fatigue,” Russell said of the Knights going all out to keep the score close until they began to run out of gas midway through the third quarter.
“We were rotating in players, but those rotations can cause the flow (of the game) to stop,” Russell said. “Hats off to them for what they did. They have a deep bench,” Russell added of the Crusaders. “They made us work on defense, and they’re so tall they won most of the 50/50 balls.”
Astrup, named to the All-Tournament team, had the most difficult challenge of all the Knights as the sophomore battled St. Bernard’s big men down low all game. He finished with eight well-earned points.
“He played hard for us and is the most consistent rebounder we have,” Russell said.
A week ago, the Knights (4-6) were coming off a last-place finish at the Redwood Empire Invitational in Healdsburg. A week later the team has given every indication it has turned the corner, a young squad that has only one player back from last year’s 18-12 playoff club.
“Where we’re at now, we’ve just got to build on it,” Russell said.
Jair Inostroza Carrillo had seven points for the Knights, who return to action Saturday at home against Eureka in non-league action.
In other Stokes Tournament action Saturday:
Middletown 67, Ferndale 47
Middletown dominated the final three quarters, outscoring Ferndale 54-30 in the Stokes third-place game. The Mustangs (6-6) allowed only 16 points in the second half.
“I think we did a very good job at moving the basketball,” Middletown head coach Jake Diehl said. “Also, our defensive energy ignited our offense.”
Willie Tadder’s season-high 20 points and four steals powered Middletown (6-6) while Jon Hawkins added 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists and four steals. Emmitt Lloyd pulled down 15 rebounds while Harrison Brown added eight points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals. Jasiah Pike had nine points.
Tadder was named to the All-Tournament team.
The Mustangs trailed 14-13 after one quarter but pushed ahead to stay on a Tadder basket that made it 22-20 with 3:30 left in the first half. Tadder’s field goal was part of a 12-2 run Middletown run to end the first half as the Mustangs took a 32-22 lead into halftime.
Middletown was up 50-30 after three quarters.
The Mustangs scored the game’s first two points on a Hawkins dunk.
Lower Lake 82, Anderson Valley 48
Tucker Benson and Noah Hakala scored 21 points apiece as the Lower Lake Trojans (6-6) beat Anderson Valley in the seventh-place game.
Adrian Negrete added 10 points while Kaimelo Connolly and Zackquez Sanders each had seven.
Lower Lake’s Brody Shields was named to the All-Tournament team.
The Trojans are off until Jan. 6 when they host Middletown in a league game.
Upper Lake 58, Happy Camp 47
At Miranda, Wyatt Hallman scored 18 points, Tj Malicay added 16 and Tyler Collins 10 as Upper Lake beat Happy Camp in the final round of the South Fork Tournament. The Cougars ended up in second place under the tournament’s pool-play format.
Malicay and teammate Landen Robinson (nine points) were named to the All-Tournament team.
“We played good defense, but we let them stick around,” Upper Lake assistant coach Thomas Santana said. “We fought through their run that brought the score back within two.”
Hallman hit four 3-pointers for the Cougars and also had a strong game on the boards.
“He was big for us,” Santana said. “Tj Malicay has been consistent all year and that didn’t change today. He was shooting the ball in rhythm.”
Upper Lake takes a 5-7 record into the Christmas break.
“It was a good finish to our preseason,” Santana said. “We still got things to work on, but all in all we’re happy with the development of our boys.”
Sutter 73, Clear Lake 41
At Colusa, Zane McAuley scored 25 points and AJ Bruch had 12, but the shorthanded Clear Lake Cardinals fell to Sutter in the third-place game of the Colusa Tournament.
“Down a starter and another (player), we went into the game with six players,” Clear Lake head coach Shady Cerezo said. “We battled but our lack of numbers just caught up with us real quick.”
Clear Lake (7-3) lost another play to injury during the game.
“I’m proud of our guys for playing hard and not complaining,” Cerezo said. “Our five seniors played the second half with no subs. They left it all on the court.”
Kaden Graham was named to the All-Tournament team.
The Cardinals return to action Jan. 6 in Fort Bragg as league play resumes.
In the tournament’s junior varsity division, Clear Lake beat Corning 45-35 to secure third place.
Clear Lake is 7-3 on the season.
Individual scoring was not reported.
