Home win over Lower Lake boosts Mustangs’ lead to two games with four left
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MIDDLETOWN >> A North Central League I varsity boys basketball race that was up for grabs at week’s start is suddenly looking like a one-team race at week’s end.
The Middletown Mustangs, co-league defending champions, beat the Lower Lake Trojans 87-66 on Friday night at the Tallman Gym in Middletown to open up a two-game lead with only four games remaining. And if Middletown (8-2 league, 15-7 overall) can score a big road win Tuesday night in Fort Bragg against the Timberwolves (6-4, 9-11), the race will effectively be over.
Just don’t expect Middletown head coach Jake Diehl and the Mustangs to let off the gas pedal one bit. Since losing a 63-58 double-overtime thriller to Clear Lake on Jan. 20 in Lakeport, the Mustangs have reeled off consecutive wins against Cloverdale, Kelseyville and now Lower Lake. A handful of favorable results in other games not involving Middletown have put the Mustangs in the proverbial catbird’s seat as far as the league race is concerned.
Getting past a Lower Lake team that boasts plenty of firepower was another big hurdle for the Mustangs to clear. After a 25-15 first quarter favoring the Mustangs, Lower Lake pulled into a 41-41 halftime tie with a 26-16 second quarter.
The game remained close through three quarters with Middletown up 59-53, but the Mustangs dominated the final period, outscoring the Trojans 27-13.
“”In the fourth quarter we got back to moving the ball well and finding the open man,” Diehl said. “It got to be a fastbreak game and we won that game.”
A physical battle throughout, the Mustangs again benefit from strong inside-outside play provided by sophomore center Emmitt Lloyd (28 points, 16 rebounds, four blocks, three assists), junior guard Harrison Brown (24 points, seven rebounds, five assists) and senior forward Jon Hawkins (17 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three steals). Willie Tadder added seven points and Cody Perez had six.
“Middletown is a good team with a balanced roster,” Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said. “They were able to play consistently and make plays offensively and defensively.”
Noah Hakala’s 19 points powered the Trojans while teammates Tucker Benson (13 points), Kaimelo Connolly (11 points) and Raijhier McKneely (11) joined him in double digits.
The Trojans fall to 4-6 in league play and 10-12 overall.
Lower Lake visits St. Helena on Tuesday.
In junior varsity action, Middletown (8-2, 12-4) retained a share of first place in the league standings with a 73-43 win over Lower Lake.
The Mustangs, led by 16 points from Cody de Jong, 14 from John Finney, 12 from Jovial Najd and 10 from Carter Rarick, have won eight straight league games since starting 0-2, and nine in a row overall. Koa Johnson added seven points and 10 rebounds.
Middletown struggled to shake Lower Lake early and led just 26-22 at halftime.
“We got kind of lazy on defense and we played to their speed on offense,” Middletown head coach Mike Myers said. “We got back on our defensive grind in the second half and let our defense do the talking,” Myers said.
Jaylien James scored nine points, Adrian Guzman finished with seven and Zane Manninger and Aiden Osorio each had six for the Trojans, now 2-8 in league play.
“Losing two starters during the game to injuries caused us some refocusing,” Lower Lake head coach Latoya Fortino said. “These boys are a team, and it shows when one of them gets hurt.”
St. Helena 55, Kelseyville 45
At Kelseyville, Gordon Astrup scored 24 points and Nick Arredondo added another 16, but the Kelseyville Knights struggled without junior point guard Jair Inostroza Carrillo and lost to the St. Helena Saints, their third straight league loss and fourth in five games.
Kelseyville (6-4, 8-13) will be without Carrillo, who was coming off a season-best 32-point effort Tuesday in a road loss to Middletown. The junior is ineligible for the remainder of the season.
Carrillo’s absence was keenly felt throughout the game, but especially in the first half, according to head coach Chaze Russell, who said his players had that “deer in the headlights” look in the passing department.
“We really didn’t know what to do without him,” Russell said of Carrillo. “He is the engine that runs this team … “
Kelseyville did a better job adjusting in the second half but couldn’t close the gap enough on the Saints (4-6, 8-11).
“We’ve just got to keep pushing forward,” Russell said. “We don’t have any easy games left.”
The loss dropped Kelseyville into a second-place tie with Fort Bragg, both teams now two games behind Middletown in the NCL I standings.
The news was better for Kelseyville’s JV team as the Knights avenged a loss last month in St. Helena with a 61-38 victory over the Saints despite being short two players, including starter Hugh O’Boyle.
“The kids came out really aggressive and played very, very well tonight,” Kelseyville head coach Stan Weper said. “The kids’ intensity tonight is what we need to win games.”
Darin Sprague led the Knights, who are tied with Middletown atop the league standings, with 32 points.
“I thought it was his best game this year,” Weiper said.
Chris Salmina added 16 points.
Kelseyville led 34-22 at halftime.
Fort Bragg 63, Clear Lake 57
At Fort Bragg, Clear Lake cut an 18-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter to just three with a minute and a half remaining but couldn’t overtake the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in what was essentially an elimination game for both schools as far as the league race is concerned.
Both teams carried 5-4 league records into the game.
“I’m proud of them for not giving up and making it a game in the end,” Clear Lake head coach Shady Cerezo said. “If we had one more quarter things might have been different. Even some of the guys were joking after the game that we need to play five quarters. I told them the next game that we’re going to pretend that it’s the four quarter to start the game.”
Zane McAuley’s 16 points led the Cardinals (5-5, 10-12). Right behind him was AJ Bruch with 15, and Jesse Hayes added 10.
Clear Lake travels to Cloverdale on Tuesday.
In the JV game, Clear Lake beat Fort Bragg 44-37 to improve to 7-3 in league play and 14-8 overall.
Scoring wasn’t reported.
Cloverdale 57, Upper Lake 52
At Upper Lake, another close game, another tough loss for the Upper Lake Cougars, who fell to the Cloverdale Eagles after a poor shooting night.
Upper Lake hit only 18 percent of its 3-pointers and just 42 percent of its shots from the paint.
“It felt like nothing would fall,” Upper Lake assistant coach Thomas Santana said. “These (games) hurt. We continue to show that we can play with any team.”
Landen Robinson scored nine points and pulled down 11 rebounds while Gage Faalelea added nine points and eight rebounds. Tj Malicay finished with eight points and nine rebounds.
“Our record doesn’t show how hard our boys play night in and night out,” Santana said. “I’m proud of the effort they put in.”
Upper Lake hosts Kelseyville on Tuesday, part of a four-game set between the two schools.
There was no report from the Upper Lake-Cloverdale JV game.
