MIDDLETOWN — They were last-place teams, but don”t call them losers. Neither Middletown coach Mike Mullin, nor Lower Lake”s Marty Udy were thinking in those terms before or after the two cellar-dwellers in the North Central League North I standings clashed on the Mustang wood.
In the end, Middletown emerged triumphant — for the first time in over a month, in fact — with a heart-pounding 61-58 win, decided by a last-second mental lapse on the part of the Trojans” Paul Bailey.
Only seconds after burying a 3-pointer that tied the score at 58 and completed the Trojans” comeback from a 17-point deficit, Bailey, obviously thinking that Lower Lake was still behind, grabbed Mustang point guard John Hays for an intentional foul to stop the clock with two seconds left. Oops!
Hays, in turn, made both ends of a one-and-one to give the Mustangs what in the end was a gift victory and leave Lower Lake all alone in the league cellar. Their roommates had moved out.
But even with yet another loss added to 16 previous ones, Udy wasn”t complaining. It was understandable after a game in which two bottom teams went over the top in terms of a classic battle.
“It was a tough one to lose, but right now I”ll take that in a heartbeat,” said Udy. “That”s what I”ve been looking for and we will build on it. We came back and tied the game. Bailey fouled, but if he doesn”t hit the shot, we”re not in that situation anyway.”
In fact, the Trojans came back from big deficits twice in the frenzied battle. The first time was in the first half after Middletown pulled away to a 14-point lead at 22-8. A streaky-scoring team, the Mustangs (1-3 North, 6-13 overall) built that lead by hitting six of seven from the floor after opening by converting only one of nine field goal attempts. When they went cold again — converting only one of their next 10 shots — Lower Lake (0-4, 4-17) went into the intermission trailing by only one, 24-23.
Middletown mounted another rally to lead 47-30 in the opening seconds of the final quarter. But then the Mustangs went cold again, missing nine of 11 attempts, which enabled Lower Lake to climb into a tie at 55 on a steal and layup by the game”s high-scorer, Jaymen Richardson.
For the game, Richardson had 22 points, including five 3-pointers. The game lacked nothing from the perimeter, with 12 treys in all — including three by Zach Strickler, who led the Mustangs with 19. Not to be overlooked was Mustang pivot Johnny Harmyk, who was never better on the boards and who also added nine points.
Before the game, Mullin said that as far as he was concerned the imbroglio between the two last-place teams was a “championship game.”
“I told you to start with that it was going to be a championship game and wasn”t it?” he reminded a reporter. “There were a lot of mistakes made by both sides, but I”m proud of my guys. We needed this win; it couldn”t have come at a better time. Everything was positive. This has been a long time coming for us.”
No further questions.
