LOWER LAKE — Tony Zagajowski scored 11 of his 19 points in the second half to propel the Middletown Mustangs to a 53-43 win over the Lower Lake Trojans on Thursday in a third-round junior varsity game at the 13th annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic in Lower Lake.
Middletown squared its tournament record at 1-1 while Lower Lake fell to 1-2 despite 14 points from David Clark and 11 from Jeremy Parks.
Clinging to a 33-32 lead late in the third quarter, Middletown went on a 9-2 run to close out the period. Dylan Galusha (14 points) scored a pair of baskets during the mini-run and Ryan Johnson”s putback shot at the buzzer made it 42-34.
The Mustangs opened up as much as a 12-point lead early in the fourth quarter and the Trojans were never closer than seven. Matt Outen nailed a medium-range jumper with 1:02 remaining to secure the win for the Mustangs, who turned in a much better effort than in their 45-23 loss to Kelseyville on Tuesday.
“We did a lot more of the little things tonight,” Middletown coach James Seymour said. “And we did a good job running our zone offense.”
After falling by 22 to the Knights in their tournament debut on Tuesday, Seymour said he gave the team the day off on Wednesday.
“Maybe I should do that every time we win,” he joked.
Clear Lake 51, Upper Lake 40
In the early JV game Thursday, the Clear Lake Cardinals improved to 2-0 in the JV standings with a win over the Upper Lake Cougars, who fell to 0-3.
Clear Lake pulled its starters late in the first quarter and the Cardinal reserves played the rest of the first half. Clear Lake led 18-8 after one period and 24-17 at halftime.
The Cardinals” starters played most of the third quarter and pushed the lead back up to 40-27. The reserves took it from there.
Ten different Clear Lake players broke into the scoring column, led by Ryan Richardson”s eight points. Corey Dillon and Robert Anderson each had seven and Noel McCormack, Bryan Edwards and Sam Haley finished with six apiece.
Dillon Gonzales and Brad Diggs scored 12 points eachfor the Cougars.
