ST. HELENA — Not even Middletown”s size advantage inside could save the Mustangs against the St. Bernard Crusaders in the opening round of the St. Helena Tournament on Thursday night in St. Helena.
“We had 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-4 guys in the low post and still got dominated on the boards,” Middletown coach Mike Mullin said after the Mustangs dropped a 76-57 decision to the Eureka team. “They have no one over 6-foot-2,” Mullin added.
In what also was the season opener for both of these varsity boys” basketball teams, St. Bernard lit up the Mustangs (0-1) from the field, hitting just about everything in sight.
“They had 13 3-pointers,” Mullin said. “They were averaging better than 50 percent from (beyond) the 3-point line. It was one of the better shooting nights I”ve ever seen a team have.”
St. Bernard led 24-15 after one quarter, 53-30 at halftime and 71-43 after three quarters.
The Crusaders” full-court press defense also took its toll on Middletown as the Mustangs committed 31 turnovers.
“Fundamentally we were very unfundamental,” Mullin said.
Tyler Hunt”s double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds paced the Mustangs. Jake Strickler added eight points and Brandon Breeden had seven points and four assists.
Middletown plays Calistoga today at 4 p.m. in the consolation semifinals.
St. Patrick/St. Vincent 47, Clear Lake 41
At St. Helena, the Clear Lake Cardinals went only 6-for-20 at the free-throw line and didn”t have much more success from the field as they lost to St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo in the opening round of the St. Helena Tournament.
“I didn”t feel like we played all that poorly,” Clear Lake coach Ken Hook said of his team”s season debut. “We just didn”t shoot the ball very well.”
Even so, the Cardinals (0-1) stayed close to the Bruins down the stretch. The game was tied 37-37 early in the fourth quarter and Clear Lake trailed by three points with a minute to go.
“We missed a couple of 3-pointers,” Hook said.
The Bruins sealed the victory with a 3-pointer of their own in the final seconds.
“All in all it was fairly encouraging for a first game,” Hook said.
Brandon White”s nine points led a balanced Clear Lake scoring effort. Kory Hook added eight points before fouling out early in the fourth quarter and Rawley Butler had seven.
Clear Lake plays either St. Helena or Rio Vista tonight in the consolation round at 5:30 p.m.
