{"id":4957,"date":"2025-12-10T19:45:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T19:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=4957"},"modified":"2025-12-10T19:45:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T19:45:51","slug":"full-strength-mustangs-rout-eagles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=4957","title":{"rendered":"Full-strength Mustangs rout Eagles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Knights edge Trojans in OT, Cards topple Saints, Cougars lose at Fort Bragg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lake County Sports on Facebook<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CLOVERDALE >> With one practice under their belts, or to be even more accurate \u201cone and a half hours of instruction,\u201d according to Middletown head coach Jake Diehl, the Mustangs\u2019 Emmitt Lloyd and Jon Hawkins transitioned from football field to basketball court Tuesday night for the team\u2019s North Central League I opener against Cloverdale in Cloverdale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was plenty of rust,\u201d Diehl said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plenty of points, too. Lloyd, a 6-foot-8 sophomore center, scored 26 points and pulled down 14 rebounds as the Mustangs overwhelmed the Eagles in a game that was never close after the middle of the first quarter, 66-36. Middletown successfully opened defense of the league co-championship it shared with St. Helena last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hawkins added eight points, including his first slam dunk of the 2025-26 campaign, as well as seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. Harrison Brown finished with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, while Cody Perez had six points, all on 3-pointers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a rough game, it\u2019s always rough in Cloverdale, but they still responded well,\u201d Diehl said of his players, and especially the four football players that joined the team Monday after the team\u2019s extended playoff run that ended Friday in the Northern California Division 7-AA championship game. \u201cThey did a good job of adjusting during the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the newest members of the team such as Lloyd and Hawkins, Diehl said he was extremely pleased with their learning curve as the game progressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were soaking it up and playing selfless basketball,\u201d Diehl said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Lloyd is new to the varsity level, Hawkins was a key component of Middletown\u2019s run to the NorCal playoffs last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh my gosh, just having them back makes a huge difference,\u201d Diehl said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown went 1-3 without their full complement of players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lloyd scored 12 points in the first quarter alone as Middletown built an 18-11 lead. The Mustangs continued to pull away in the second quarter when Perez hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Brown added another. It was 30-13 by halftime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hawkins\u2019 dunk in the opening minute of the third quarter made it 32-15. The Mustangs led 50-25 going to the final period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasiah Pike pulled down seven rebounds for Middletown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown (1-0 league, 2-3 overall) opens play in the 76th<\/sup> annual Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament Wednesday against Mendocino at 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown\u2019s junior varsity squad fell 38-37 to Cloverdale. The Mustangs (0-1, 3-2) had a chance to win the game in the final seconds but turned the ball over. The Eagles ran out the remaining time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucas Hernandez and Jovial Najd scored 13 points apiece to power Middletown. Hernandez also had eight rebounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe came out unprepared and they punched us in the mouth,\u201d Middletown head coach Mike Myers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown returns to action Tuesday in Kelseyville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other boys league openers Tuesday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville 54, Lower Lake 51 (OT)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Lower Lake, Jair Inostroza Carrillo sank a pair of pressure-packed free throws late in the overtime period to give the Kelseyville Knights and first-year head coach Chaze Russell not only their first win of the season, but a league-opening victory against the Lower Lake Trojans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordon Astrup (13 points) also hit some big shots for the Knights (1-0, 1-2) in their win. Carrillo finished with 11 points while Elijah Watkins, Kimo Brown and Ryan Keithly finished with six each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville trailed nearly the entire way in regulation before outscoring Lower Lake 17-8 in the fourth quarter.  The Knights took a small lead midway through the final period, but the Trojans (0-1, 2-3) rallied to tie the game at the end of regulation on a shot by Zackquez Saunders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t pretty, but we pulled it out,\u201d said Russell, who said Carrillo\u2019s composure throughout the game, but especially when the Trojans began to pressure the Knights late in the game, held the young Knights together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was our most composed player,\u201d Russell said. \u201cHe handled the pressure well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake led 15-9 after one quarter, 24-19 at halftime as Raijhier McKneely hit a 3-pointer from beyond the half-court stripe in the final seconds of the half, and 38-29 after three quarters. The game was tied 46-all at the end of regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville outscored Lower Lake 8-5 in a back-and-forth overtime period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brody Shields led the Trojans with 14 points, McKneely had 11 and Tucker Benson seven. Shields made three 3-pointers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville won the JV game 67-40 behind 28 points from freshman Darin Sprague, 16 from Chris Salmina, who sank four 3-pointers, and 10 from Hugh O\u2019Boyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd we missed a bunch of layups or we might have had 80,\u201d Kelseyville head coach Stan Weiper said of the Knights\u2019 offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake scoring was not reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville hosts Justin-Siena in a JV-only game Thursday at Kelseyville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the varsity teams, Lower Lake draws Los Molinos on Thursday in the opening round of the Irene Wells Memorial Tournament in Maxwell, and Kelseyville plays tournament host Healdsburg on Wednesday in the opening round of the Redwood Empire Invitational in Healdsburg. Tip-off is 8 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake 57, St. Helena 50<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At St. Helena, Zane McAuley scored 22 points and Jesse Hayes added 13 as the Clear Lake Cardinals outscored the St. Helena Saints 21-8 in the third quarter to beat the defending co-league champions on their own floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a great team effort against a physical St. Helena team,\u201d Clear Lake head coach Shady Cerezo said. \u201cOur offense struggled in the first half, but our defense kept us in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake (1-0, 2-1 overall) trailed 21-19 at halftime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAJ Bruch did a great job all game defending,\u201d Cerezo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Helena made a run at Clear Lake in the fourth quarter to get close, but clutch free throws from Hayes, Sawyer Smith and Kaden Graham sealed the victory, according to Cerezo. The three players combined to go 7-for-8 from the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of my guys for the way they battled through a very physical game,\u201d Cerezo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake also won the JV game 57-51, improving the Cardinals\u2019 record to 4-2 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Individual scoring was not reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake\u2019s varsity plays tournament host Calistoga on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the opening round of the Gene Duffy Memorial Tournament at Calistoga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Bragg 70, Upper Lake 59<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Fort Bragg, suiting up only six players, the Upper Lake Cougars put up a fight but dropped their league opener to the Fort Bragg Timberwolves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShowing up with six players in always hard, especially being undersized,\u201d Upper Lake coach Thomas Santana said. \u201cBut we played hard, just couldn\u2019t get the ball in the basket in the first quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TJ Malicay\u2019s 20 points powered Upper Lake\u2019s offense. Tyler Collins and Landen Robinson each had 13 while Wyatt Hallman had seven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper Lake opens play Thursday in the John McMillan Holiday Invitational at Cloverdale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Bragg defeated Upper Lake 60-43 in JV action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Individual scoring was not reported as the Cougars slipped to 0-5 on the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Knights edge Trojans in OT, Cards topple Saints, Cougars lose at Fort Bragg Lake County Sports on Facebook CLOVERDALE >> With one practice under their belts, or to be even more accurate \u201cone and a half hours of instruction,\u201d according to Middletown head coach Jake Diehl, the Mustangs\u2019 Emmitt Lloyd and Jon Hawkins transitioned from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,16,20,58,12,17,18,19,59,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4959,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957\/revisions\/4959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}