{"id":5578,"date":"2026-02-13T21:59:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T21:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=5578"},"modified":"2026-02-13T21:59:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T21:59:43","slug":"mtown-boys-top-clear-lake-in-league-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=5578","title":{"rendered":"M’town boys top Clear Lake in league finale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mustangs await Sunday’s at-large, seeding meeting to see where they’ll be in playoffs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

MIDDLETOWN >> Middletown had nothing to gain as far as the North Central League I race was concerned Thursday night against Clear Lake in the league and regular-season finale for both teams at Middletown, but it was still a game and the Mustangs don\u2019t like to lose no matter the stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having wrapped up the league title earlier in the week with a home win over Upper Lake, the Mustangs could have kicked back Thursday and rested up for the start of next week\u2019s North Coast Section playoffs, but taking it easy isn\u2019t in his players\u2019 genes, or for that matter his own, according to head coach Jake Diehl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Diehl said when asked if the Mustangs, 68-57 winners over the Cardinals, toyed with the idea of throttling back against Clear Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Clear Lake (7-7, 12-14) made Middletown (11-3, 18-8) work for its win, Diehl said he was pleased with the Mustangs\u2019 effort in a game that might have been on the surface meaningless for his squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAbsolutely pleased,\u201d Diehl said. \u201cMy guys were solid. They\u2019re team players. We\u2019ve worked hard for this. We\u2019ve put in the time and I\u2019m proud of where we\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending on what division the Mustangs are placed in during Sunday\u2019s North Coast Section at-large and seeding meeting, they could be primed for another lengthy playoff run. Last season they hosted five straight playoff games, going 3-2, placing third in Division 4 and advancing to the NorCal playoffs for the first time in school history, part of a historic 24-8 campaign for the 2024-25 squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping we get to be home for one or maybe two games,\u201d Diehl said with an eye toward the section playoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake, on the other hand, is done for the season despite battling hard all year long for first-year head coach Shady Cerezo, who said the team would have applied for a playoff at-large berth had they won. Though the Cardinals are still technically eligible because of their 7-7 league finish, Cerezo said the consensus among his players, most of whom are baseball players, is that they would like to move on to their spring sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what would be the point of getting a low seed and having to travel to play some big school (in the first round),\u201d Cerezo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Clear Lake beat Middletown in the first league meeting between the two teams last month in Lakeport, the difference this time around was Middletown 6-foot-9 sophomore center Emmitt Lloyd, who the Cardinals couldn\u2019t slow down let alone stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe just didn\u2019t have an answer for him,\u201d Cerezo said. \u201cWe tried everything we could, but you can\u2019t coach tall. He\u2019s a big kid with long arms. All he has to do is reach out to score.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lloyd almost had half of Middletown\u2019s points, scoring a season- and career-best 33. The Mustangs spent nearly the entire first half lobbing passes inside to him and Lloyd responded by making most of his shots. He scored all 13 of Middletown\u2019s points during an 18-13 first quarter that favored Clear Lake. Lloyd also scored the Mustangs\u2019 first two points of the second quarter. It wasn\u2019t until teammate Harrison Brown hit a 3-pointer with six minutes left in the first half, tying the score at 18-all, that a Middletown player other than Lloyd reached the scoring column.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lloyd\u2019s tip-in of his own miss with about a minute left in the first half put Middletown ahead to stay at 28-26. The Mustangs carried a 31-27 lead into the second half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whereas the Mustangs were almost solely dependent on Lloyd for offense in the first half, the Cardinals got a big boost from Zane McAuley, who hit four 3-pointers in the opening quarter before cooling off and finishing the night with 15 points, all on treys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown was much more successful at involving others in the offense in the second half although Lloyd continued to be a force throughout the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I reminded them of who we are and what we’re about (at halftime),\u201d Diehl said. \u201cWe did a good job of moving the ball around and our defense adjusted to some things. We did a good job.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown had as much as a 44-31 lead midway through the third quarter when Clear Lake closed with an 11-4 run to make it 48-42.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown\u2019s lead fluctuated between four and six points the first half of the fourth quarter. Clear Lake had just cut the Mustangs\u2019 lead to 52-48 with 5:14 remaining when the Cardinals\u2019 bench was whistled for a technical foul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was just one problem, according to Cerezo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t anyone on our bench,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fan, the alleged perpetrator of the comments that drew the official\u2019s ire, was ejected from the gym. Although Brown missed both of the technical free throws, the Mustangs were awarded possession of the ball and promptly scored, Jon Hawkins powering his way inside and drawing a foul. He added the free throw to complete the three-point play, giving Middletown a 55-48 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That kind of screwed us at the end,” Cerezo said. \u201cWe had momentum. The technical was on a fan unless our bench extends into the stands. It doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake closed to four points one last time as McAuley\u2019s fifth and final 3-pointer of the night made it 55-51, but it was the Cardinals\u2019 last gasp. Lloyd scored down low and Willy Tadder made a long two-point shot to give the Mustangs a 59-51 lead. Middletown made five of seven free throws down the stretch to seal it, which help offset a pair of Clear Lake 3-pointers in the final 3:21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sawyer Smith did his best to keep Clear Lake close in the second half, hitting a handful of clutch 3-pointers. He finished with a team-best 16 points, including four 3-pointers. AJ Bruch added another 13 points to Clear Lake\u2019s cause while Jesse Hayes had eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lloyd was the only Mustangs to score in double digits although Hawkins and Brown just missed with nine points apiece. Tadder finished with seven and Jasiah Pike had six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior varsity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a winner-take-all junior varsity game, the Mustangs secured the outright league championship 56-38 to finish 11-3 in the standings. Clear Lake, Kelseyville and St. Helena all ended up a game back at 10-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jovial Najd led the Mustangs, 15-5 overall, with 15 points, John Finney contributed 11, Koa Johnson had 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Cody de Jong added eight points and four rebounds. Najd also had three assists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown lost its first two league games before going 11-1 in its next 12 games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of these boys,\u201d Middletown head coach Mike Myers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t give them many second-chance opportunities,\u201d Myers added. \u201cWe became a defensive team as the season went on and defense wins championships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other NCL I action Thursday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Bragg 57, Kelseyville 50<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Fort Bragg, in a battle for sole possession of second place in the league standings and an automatic berth into next week\u2019s North Coast Section playoffs, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves held off the Kelseyville Knights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had a couple of opportunities at the end of the game,\u201d Kelseyville head coach Chaze Russell said. \u201cThey played us hard and we tried to answer back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Bragg\u2019s ability to rebound the ball down the stretch helped keep the Timberwolves in front, according to Russell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe could not get a rebound,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Individual statistics were not available Thursday night, but Russell said the play of Joey Watson, who missed most of the season with an injury, helped keep Kelseyville in the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJoey Watson has stepped up and done a great job the last three games,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville will apply for an at-large berth and find out Sunday if it is moving on to the playoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the JV game, Kelseyville closed out its season with a 61-31 victory. The Knights went 10-4 in league play and 13-8 overall, just missing out on a share of the league title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At least we were able to finish strong,” Kelseyville head coach Stan Weiper said. “We played good defense and got out on the break well.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darin Sprague led the Knights with 19 points, Chris Salmina had 13 and Fabian Flores 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake 62, Cloverdale 53<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Cloverdale, the Lower Lake Trojans moved up a spot in the league standings after beating the Cloverdale Eagles in the league and regular-season finale for both teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noah Hakala finished with 18 points and 20 rebounds as the Trojans closed out league play at 6-8 and 12-14 overall. Brody Shields added 16 points, Zackquez Sanders had nine and Kaimelo Connolly seven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We ended up pulling away in the third and finishing with a strong rebounding and running game,” Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloverdale won the JV game 75-32.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A very tough last game for us,” Lower Lake head coach Latoya Fortino said. “We had shots but couldn’t get them to land. Cloverdale hit almost everything they put up. It truly was incredible. They couldn’t seem to miss.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aiden Osorio\u2019s eight points led the Trojans (3-11, 9-16) while Roy Percoats and Adrian Guzman each had five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Helena 64, Upper Lake 50<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At St. Helena, 19 points from Tj Malicay and 12 apiece from Shaun Way and Wyatt Hallman, who had four 3-pointers, weren\u2019t enough to lift the Upper Lake Cougars (3-11, 8-16) past the St. Helena Saints (7-7, 11-12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper Lake pulled to within a basket of St. Helena on a handful of occasions only to fall back each time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were just too big,\u201d Upper Lake assistant coach Thomas Santana said of the Saints. \u201cWe played hard, we just couldn\u2019t stop their runs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Santana of Upper Lake\u2019s season, which included many close losses, \u201cIf half of those games went our way our record would\u2019ve been so different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A young team, Upper Lake returns seven players next season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo we\u2019ll be back to compete even harder next year,\u201d Santana said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Helena won the JV game 48-37 to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the league standings. Upper Lake closes 0-14 in league and 0-17 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We had a young team and it was hard to cross the finish line this season,” Upper Lake head coach Wyatt Hensley said. “I\u2019m looking forward to offseason development and watching them grow as student-athletes.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mustangs await Sunday’s at-large, seeding meeting to see where they’ll be in playoffs Lake County Sports on Facebook MIDDLETOWN >> Middletown had nothing to gain as far as the North Central League I race was concerned Thursday night against Clear Lake in the league and regular-season finale for both teams at Middletown, but it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5579,"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\/5578"}],"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=5578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5580,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5578\/revisions\/5580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}