LOWER LAKE — Timing is everything.
When varsity assistant Tom Knowles agreed to fill in this season as interim head coach of the Middletown High School junior varsity boys” basketball team, he had a pretty good hunch the Mustangs would be good, but 20-0 good?
“That was fun,” Knowles said following Middletown”s season-ending 61-42 victory over the Lower Lake Trojans on Tuesday night in Lower Lake, where the Mustangs capped a perfect North Central League I North run — 8-0 – and a perfect season — 20-0.
When JV head coach James Seymour took a one-year leave of absence for family reasons, Knowles agreed to step in, knowing ahead of time it was a one-year gig, and it turned out to be a great 20-game ride.
“Basically my job was not to screw things up,” Knowles joked. “It was like someone handed you the keys to a new car and said, ?Don”t drive it into the ditch.””
While many of the team”s talented sophomores could have helped a Middletown varsity squad that struggled to score most of the season, Knowles said it was varsity coach Mike Mullin”s decision early in the 2008-09 campaign to keep the JV unit intact and to let the squad experience as much success as possible.
“I think you”re going to see them do very well at the varsity level,” Knowles said. “It”s one of the best groups I”ve ever coached. They”ve been playing together for a while and basketball is their primary sport.”
Jereomy Hoefer and Bo Sheffer each scored 15 points in the team”s win against Lower Lake. Kyle Brown added 11 points and Jacob Anderson had nine points and 12 rebounds, tying Sheffer, who also pulled down 12, for the team high.
Scott Zandt”s 17 points paced Lower Lake and Jack O”Hara had 10.
