LOWER LAKE — The Middletown Mustangs can clinch no worse than a tie for the North Central League I North varsity boys” basketball championship with a victory today in Fort Bragg against the Timberwolves.
That”s the state of the wild, wild North race following Friday”s round of games. Middletown beat Lower Lake 65-48 in Lower Lake while Fort Bragg upended Willits 72-64 in Willits. As a result, the Mustangs are 4-2, Willits is 4-3, Fort Bragg is 3-3, Kelseyville is 3-4 and Lower Lake is 3-5.
If Fort Bragg beats Middletown today, both teams will be tied with Willits going into Tuesday”s final round of games.
Middletown used a strong second half to pull away from Lower Lake, which had closed to 32-30 by halftime. The Mustangs outscored the Trojans 18-11 in the third quarter.
“We manned them and Daniel Anderson did a good job against (Jaymen) Richardson and Bo Sheffer did a nice job against (Gage) Carlson,” Middletown coach Mike Mullin said.
Anderson, who is headed to the Naval Academy in Annapolis in just a few months, turned in his best performance of the season, according to Mullin.
“He came up big in a big way,” Mullin said of Anderson”s 13 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and two assists.
“He”s an undersized kid who plays down on the post and he does a great job,” Mullin said.
The Trojans (3-5, 13-13) connected on 10 3-pointers to Middletown”s three but didn”t do much damage in the paint, according to Lower Lake coach Marty Udy.
“They (Mustangs) had 22 field goals inside the (3-point) arc to our six,” Udy said. “We didn”t score enough in the paint.”
Not even a huge night by Richardson on the boards — he had 31 rebounds to go along with his 12 points ? could make much of a dent in the Mustangs.
“They did a good job of pounding the boards and getting second and third shots,” Udy said of the Mustangs. “Our second and third shots were far and few between.”
Kyle Harmyk (13 points) and John Hays (11 points) joined Anderson in double figures for Middletown. Joe Taylor scored 12 points to share Lower Lake scoring honors with Richardson.
