Boys race going down to the wire after Fort Bragg victory; Upper Lake, Clear Lake win
FORT BRAGG >> In the words of the Fort Bragg Timberwolves, “Not so fast, buddy.”
The Middletown High School varsity boys basketball team was minutes away from clinching a share of the North Central League I championship, only to have Fort Bragg rally for a 72-67 win Friday night on the Mendocino County coast, leaving the league race still up for grabs.
With only three games remaining – one on Friday and two next week – the Mustangs (8-3 league, 15-8 overall) own a one-game lead over the Timberwolves (7-4, 10-11), and a two-game lead over Kelseyville and Clear Lake, both 6-5. Middletown’s final three games are at St. Helena (Friday), home against Upper Lake (Tuesday, Feb. 10) and home against Clear Lake (Thursday, Feb. 12). Fort Bragg’s final three games are home against Cloverdale (Friday), at St. Helena (Tuesday, Feb. 10) and home against Kelseyville (Thursday, Feb. 12).
“We’re still in command,” Middletown head coach Jake Diehl said. “We just can’t lose again. We need to step up play good in our last three games.”
Of its final three opponents, Middletown beat St. Helena and Upper Lake in the first half of league play but lost a double-overtime thriller to Clear Lake.
Of course, in what has been a highly volatile league race that will produce its first three- or four-loss league champion in a long time, there are no absolutely no guarantees as teams head down the homestretch.
Middletown led 22-17 after one quarter, 39-33 at halftime and 57-51 through three quarters before Fort Bragg rallied for the victory.
“Fort Bragg was in a man defense, and we like that matchup, but we were just stagnant on offense in the fourth quarter,” Diehl said. “We got a little sticky with the ball, and we definitely gave them too many second- and third-shot opportunities, and those hurt us at the end. Fort Bragg also drained some huge shots at the end.”
Jon Hawkins finished with a team-best 20 points to go along with seven rebounds, and Emmitt Lloyd added 19 points and 15 rebounds as the Mustangs lost their first league game to an out-of-county opponent. Harrison Brown added 12 points while Willie Tadder had seven points and five steals.
In the junior varsity game, Middletown won 43-28, its 10th straight victory.
John Finney led the Mustangs (9-2, 13-4) with 17 points while Jovial Najd had seven and Lucas Hernandez four.
Middletown is tied with Kelseyville atop the league standings, each with three games remaining. Both teams have one game left against the 8-3 Clear Lake Cardinals.
In other NCL I action Tuesday night:
Upper Lake 66, Kelseyville 58
At Upper Lake, not even 32 points and nine 3-pointers from Kelseyville’s Nick Arredondo could stop the Upper Lake Cougars, who were close to landing five players in double digits while beating the slumping Knights.
Tj Malicay led an ultra-balanced Upper Lake (3-8, 8-13) attack with 18 points, Landen Robinson added 17, including four 3-pointers, Shaun Way had 12, and both Gage Faalelea and Kaiden Sneed contributed eight apiece as Upper Lake won for the second time in its last three games.
Among the factors that contributed to the Upper Lake win was the Cougars’ physical play against a Kelseyville team that has dropped five straight and six of seven since a triple-overtime win against Clear Lake back on Jan. 13 in Lakeport.
“Even though we’re a smaller team, teams don’t like it when we play physical with them,” Arroyo said. “We’re just focusing on being active.”
While Kelseyville’s Gordon Astrup (13 points) dominated the paint in the first half as the Knights held a 32-30 halftime lead, Upper Lake did a better and better job rebounding at both ends of the floor over the final two quarters, winning more and more matchups underneath the basket.
The lead changed hands five times in the third quarter before Upper Lake pushed ahead to stay on a Robinson 3-pointer with three minutes remaining that put the Cougars in front 42-40. Malicay’s driving layup and Wyatt Hallman’s 3-pointer pushed Upper Lake’s lead to 47-40.
Kelseyville fought back to 49-46 by quarter’s end on a pair of 3-pointers.
The Knights were within 49-47 on an Astrup free throw to open the fourth quarter when the Cougars’ Sneed hit a 3-pointer to make it 52-47. After Faalelea scored on a runner in the lane, it was 54-47. Again, the Knights battled back on a Arredondo 3-pointer and a Riley Lopez free throw that made it 54-51, but that was the Knights’ final gasp. Upper Lake pushed its lead to nine points twice in the final two minutes.
While Upper Lake enjoyed one of its more balanced attacks of the season, Arredondo and Astrup were the only Knights to score in double digits. Joey Watson added six points.
“I haven’t given up, I hope they haven’t,” Kelseyville head coach Chaze Russell said of his players during what has been a tough stretch for the Knights, who won their first five league games.
“We were not in sync for four quarters,” Russell said. “The past two weeks we haven’t been able to put four consistent quarters together. The kids played hard, I can’t ask for more.”
Kelseyville is home Friday to play Clear Lake while Upper Lake travels to Lower Lake.
Kelseyville won the JV game 70-27 to remain tied with Middletown atop the league standings. The Knights (9-2 league, 13-6 overall) were led by Darin Sprague’s 28 points, 12 from Hugh O’Boyle and 11 from Chris Salmina.
The Knights return home Friday to take on Clear Lake (8-3).
“I’m hoping we can finish up strong,” Kelseyville head coach Stan Weiper said of the Knights’ final three league games. “Now we need to focus on Clear Lake.”
Chase Noble’s eight points led the Cougars (0-11, 0-15). Angelo Macias, Isaia Pena and Michael Marcks added four apiece.
Clear Lake 62, Cloverdale 49
At Cloverdale, a 15-3 third quarter carried the Clear Lake Cardinals to a win over the Cloverdale Eagles, who led 27-24 at halftime.
“It was a slow first half for our standards,” Clear Lake head coach Shady Cerezo said. “Our guys were a little frustrated with calls. We told them to not worry about it and keep playing and be strong with the ball.”
Added Cerezo, “We came out and played really good defense in the third quarter, only giving up three. We had a gameplan going into the third to attack their best player who was in foul trouble, and we did it successfully, having him pick up his fourth foul, which was huge for our team.”
Zane McAuley led a balanced Clear Lake attack with 22 points followed by AJ Bruch with 12, Ayden Moreno with 10 and Jesse Hayes with eight.
“It was a great team effort,” Cerezo said. “Everyone contributed in one way or another. Cloverdale is a tough place to play. I’m proud of my guys for going in there and playing had for all four quarters.”
Clear Lake hits the road Friday to take on Kelseyville. The last time the two teams faced off Kelseyville won a 76-74 triple-overtime battle in Lakeport.
Clear Lake won the JV game 48-46, the Eagles making a game of it after falling behind 30-17 at halftime.
Clear Lake scoring wasn’t reported.
The Cardinals are 8-3 in league and 15-8 overall.
St. Helena 53, Lower Lake 50
At St. Helena, the St. Helena Saints went 19-for-26 from the free-throw line compared to Lower Lake’s 0-for-7.
Lower Lake (4-7, 10-13) took a 32-25 lead into the fourth quarter before the Saints rallied. A turning point came with about three minutes remaining when St. Helena went to the line to shoot two free throws. A Lower Lake player said something to the officials and drew a technical foul. St. Helena took advantage by hitting three of four free throws, then received the ball after the technical and made a 3-pointer, a six-point swing.
“We had all kinds of drama at the end,” Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said.
St. Helena’s Arsalan Muhammad also came up big, coming off the bench to hit three straight 3-pointers. He scored all 15 of his points in the fourth quarter.
“We played poorly and had a lot of turnovers,” Jakubowski said.
Zackquez Sanders led the Trojans with 13 points, Noah Hakala added 10 and Raijhier McKneely had eight.
Lower Lake returns home Friday to honor its seniors prior to playing Upper Lake. After Upper Lake, the Trojans hit the road to play Clear Lake and Cloverdale in their final two games.
St. Helena won the JV game 58-45.
Lower Lake is 2-9 in league and 8-14 overall. Scoring wasn’t reported.
