LOWER LAKE — The Clear Lake Cardinals couldn”t stop Middletown”s inside game ? and neither could anyone else — as the 16th annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic wrapped up Saturday with the Mustangs completing a 4-0 run by beating Clear Lake 59-34 at Lower Lake High School.
It”s the second straight year Middletown has won the Hoop Classic junior varsity title — a first for the school — and the Mustangs did it with an overpowering inside game led by tournament MVP Nick Delia, who had 19 points against the Cardinals. All-Tournament selection Luke Humphrey added 17 points.
Middletown used a 12-3 run late in the first quarter to push its lead into double figures. The Mustangs led 19-8 after one quarter and continued to pull away from there as Delia, Humphrey and D.J. Brookshire sparked the offense.
Steven Edwards” 11 points paced the Cardinals, who finished 2-2 in the round-robin tournament. Adrian Perez added eight points.
Brookshire, Edwards and Perez all landed spots on the All-Tourney team.
In the early JV game Saturday:
Lower Lake 58, Upper Lake 54
Lower Lake held off a late Upper Lake charge to beat the Cougars and clinch second place in the tournament.
Lower Lake, Clear Lake and Kelseyville all finished 2-2, but the Trojans won the points-differential tiebreaker in games involving only those three teams.
The Trojans had a 56-44 lead midway through the fourth quarter, but the Cougars battled back to make it interesting, getting as close as 56-52 with 50.2 seconds left.
Jesse Meldrum”s 21 points paced the Trojans while Mark Umalin”s 26 points led the Cougars. Joe Valdez of Upper Lake added 18 points and Lower Lake”s Alex Toshich had 17.
