Hawkins scores 20 points as Mustangs knock off Swett 55-51 in first-round home game
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
MIDDLETOWN >> Every team should have a Jon Hawkins.
Middletown does and head coach Jake Diehl relied on his senior to help extract the Mustangs from a situation that was teetering on the edge midway through the third quarter of a 55-51 playoff win over Swett High School of Crocket in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division 5 boys basketball playoffs Tuesday night in Middletown.
Next up for the Mustangs is a quarterfinal-round game Friday night against No. 1 seed Sonoma Academy in Santa Rosa at 7 p.m. Middletown defeated Sonoma Academy 54-51 n non-league action Jan. 10 in Middletown.
Getting past Swett (18-10), the No. 8 seed to Middletown’s No. 9, was anything but an easy chore. The Warriors had just opened up a 36-28 lead with a 7-0 mini-run and appeared to be pulling away, every bit of momentum on their side, when Hawkins, three-year varsity veteran and 1,000-point career scorer, calmly and cooly stepped up with a huge basket, one desperately needed at that moment.
“That’s the tallest team we’ve played this year and the passing window inside to Emmitt (Lloyd, Middletown’s 6-foot-9 center), was small,” Diehl said.
With Lloyd struggling to get free, the Mustangs simply went to the next best option.
Having missed a pair of free throws on its previous possession, Middletown held Swett on defense before moving the ball back down the floor. Hawkins worked his way down low, scored and drew a foul with 3:40 left in the quarter. Though he missed the free throw, Hawkins’ basket snapped Swett’s forward momentum and quickly launched the Mustangs on a mini-run of their own.
“I wanted the ball in his hands right there,” Diehl said of Hawkins, who went on to lead the Mustangs with 20 points. “In those types of situations, Jon is always a good option.”
If Hawkins is ever flustered, he rarely shows it. With the Mustangs having trouble getting the ball down low to Lloyd in the first half, Hawkins simply stepped up to fill the void and he made it look easy.
“Defensively we made some minor adjustments at halftime that helped … those adjustments matter in basketball,” Diehl said. “That and the offense started to work the ball a little better (in the second half).”
Following Hawkins’ basket, the Mustangs did indeed find Lloyd down low on their next trip down the floor, cutting Swett’s lead to 36-32. On the very next possession, it was Nalu Johnson scoring two points from underneath the basket to make it 36-34.
Swett built its lead back up to six points before Middletown, trailing since the opening minute of the game, finally got even on a Hawkins three-point play and Harrison Brown’s corner 3-pointer with 45.1 seconds left in the quarter.
Both teams were stuck on 42 for almost the first three minutes of the fourth quarter before Hawkins powered his way inside for another basket, giving the Mustangs their first lead since scoring the first two points of the game.
Middletown led the rest of the way, though Swett stayed close and never went away. While the Warriors went ice-cold from the field, going scoreless in the fourth quarter until finally making a free throw with 3:03 left in the game, their own defense and free-throw shooting had the Mustangs’ full attention until the final buzzer.
When Hawkins fouled Julius Marquez shooting a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left, Marquez stepped to the line and made all three free throws (actually four, because the first was wiped out when play was halted for a Middletown fan on the court and the shot had to be replayed) to cut the Mustangs’ lead to 52-49.
Sophomore guard Willy Tadder made his final three of four free throws in the final seconds as the Warriors were forced to foul and Tadder made them pay.
Diehl said the tough test provided by Swett will only help the Mustangs in their forthcoming challenge with Sonoma Academy.
“We were playing a little uptight to start the game, but we got going,” Diehl said. “That broke the ice. Now we’ve just got to get back to business.”
Though neither Swett nor Middletown shot the ball especially well Tuesday, part of that had to do with the strong defense played by both teams, who had no problem getting the ball up and down the court in a hurry.
“They might have been a little tired in that fourth quarter,” Diehl said of the Warriors. “They were able to get out and run the ball, but we don’t mind that. We’re going to win that battle most of the time.”
If anything, Middletown struggled a bit to take time off the clock down the stretch, though that’s exactly what Diehl wanted his team to do, especially after opening up a 48-42 lead with three minutes left in the fourth quarter.
“There are things we need to tighten up and get better at,” Diehl said.
Middletown did lose 60-41 to Swett in the consolation championship game of the St. Helena Tournament back in early December, but the Mustangs were without several key pieces when that game took place, which was one day after Middletown’s football team lost in the NorCal playoffs.
Looking ahead to the Mustangs’ quarterfinal against Sonoma Academy, which will also be a second meeting for the two teams this season, Diehl said, “Sonoma Academy’s gotten better and we’ve gotten better.”
Lloyd and Tadder joined Hawkins in double digits for the Mustangs with 13 and 11 points, respectively. EJ Rose added eight, Johnson had six and Brown five.
It was Middletown’s sixth straight playoff game played at home counting the team’s five-game postseason run a year ago. The Mustangs went 3-1 in the sectional playoffs, finishing third, before losing in the opening round of the NorCals. All five games took place at the Tallman Gym.
Depending on how the quarterfinal round goes, there is a chance Middletown could be back home for the semifinals provided they get past Sonoma Academy first.
Diehl said he likes the Mustangs’ chances, especially if they are as efficient with their ballhandling as they were against Swett – only 11 turnovers.
“We really cleaned things up,” Diehl said.
