LOWER LAKE — If the Middletown Mustangs had started playing like this about a month ago, they might be headed to the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs next week.
Instead, the Mustangs settled for a satisfying consolation prize on Friday night, beating the Kelseyville Knights 52-39 in the championship game of the North Central League I North postseason tournament at Lower Lake High School.
“What a way to finish the season,” Middletown coach Mike Mullin said of the Mustangs (11-15), who won their final three games and five of their last six. “The kids were excited and pumped up after the game. The seniors were congratulating the other kids for letting them end their careers this way. This will be a game they always remember.”
Middletown, the fourth seed in the four-team tournament, used a 32-13 second half to overtake the No. 3-seeded Knights, who close out the season at 11-17. While the Mustangs” offense didn”t shift into overdrive like on Thursday in an 88-65 victory over No. 1 seed Fort Bragg, the North regular-season champion, it functioned well enough to get a victory.
Junior guard John Hays, who had nine points and nine assists a night earlier against Fort Bragg, led the way against Kelseyville with a season-best 22 points that included four 3-point field goals. And Zach Strickler, one of the team”s three seniors, followed up on his career-best 33-point effort against Fort Bragg with 15 points against the Knights.
“We wanted to make sure we stayed close,” Mullin said. “They led 22-9 after the first quarter the last time we played them. We felt if we were close at halftime, we could win the thing.”
The Mustangs trailed 26-20 at the half but it was pretty much all Middletown over the final two quarters, according to Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad.
“Middletown is sure playing well,” Conrad said. “In the third quarter they came out with a lot better energy.”
The Mustangs took a 36-34 lead into the final period.
Mike Duman”s 10 points paced Kelseyville and Peter Wotherspoon added eight.
While Middletown finished fourth in the NCL I North regular-season standings with a 3-5 mark, Mullin said the North postseason tournament was up for grabs.
“We all knew it could have been anybody,” Mullin said. “Before the start of league we thought 5-3 might win it.”
It almost did. Fort Bragg ended up 6-2, Willits was 5-3, Kelseyville finished 4-4, and then came Middletown and Lower Lake (2-6) to round out the standings.
“We lost too many close games and had a stretch there where we lost four in a row (three of them league games) by just a couple of points each time,” Mullin said. “That is tough to recover from mentally.”
Kelseyville, its offense on a roller coaster all season, never found that middle ground, according to Conrad.
“That”s why we”ve been up and down so much,” Conrad said.
Both teams will take hits from graduation but also return key pieces next season. And with Middletown and Kelseyville finishing one-two in the JV North race this season, both squads have plenty of talent in the pipeline.
“There”s some good, young talent in the program,” Conrad said. “Some of it is already here (at the varsity level).”
“I think the next couple of seasons are going to be pretty exciting,” Mullin said of the prospect of pulling up a handful of sophomores from his 20-0 JV club.
Playing their final games on Friday were Middletown seniors Strickler, Johnny Harmyk (four points, 14 rebounds) and Dustin Peterson (six points, seven rebounds), and Kelseyville seniors Duman, Nick Schaefer (six points), Hipolito Perez (five points), Chad Morlan and Anthony Cordova.
While Kelseyville won both league meetings this season, the two teams ended up splitting the season series at 2-2 (Middletown also beat Kelseyville in the Record-Bee Hoop Classic in December).
“It”s not often you get to end your season with a win,” Mullin said. “The way we finished, that makes it a satisfying year for us.”
