LOWER LAKE –Trailing by nine points after the third quarter, the Lower Lake Trojans rallied in the final period to beat the Kelseyville Knights 45-40 in a first-round junior varsity game on Monday night at the 16th annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic in Lower Lake.
Jesse Meldrum scored 18 points to lead the Trojans. His basket with 57.3 seconds remaining put Lower Lake ahead to stay at 41-40 and his two free throws with 1.7 seconds left sealed the victory. Brandon Thomas hit both ends of a one-and-one with 18.2 seconds remaining to give the Trojans some breathing room at 43-40.
Lower Lake trailed by nine points on a handful of occasions, including 36-27 after three quarters.
Joining Meldrum in double figures was Thomas finished with 12. Jeff Davis added eight.
Kelseyville led 12-9 after one quarter and 24-19 at halftime. David Ladd and Deven Call scored nine points apiece to lead Kelseyville. All of Ladd”s points came on 3-pointers.
In the early JV game Monday:
Middletown 83, Upper Lake 32
Middletown set a Hoop Classic JV record for most points scored in a single game by rolling past the Upper Lake Cougars.
Middletown, the defending Hoop Classic champion, scored the game”s first 27 points and led 34-5 after one quarter. The much taller Mustangs increased their advantage to 50-14 by halftime.
Nick Delia led a balanced Middletown attack with 17 points, Ben Steinberg added 16 and Blaine Amos and Tyler Rockwell added 12 apiece.
Mike Diconza”s nine points paced the Cougars and Jose Ruiz had eight.
Twenty-four of the Cougars” 32 points came on 3-pointers.
