LAKE COUNTY — The Middletown boys open at home and the Lower Lake girls hit the road Wednesday as the North Coast Section Division IV basketball playoffs get under way.
Middletown (18-9), the North Central League I North co-champion, hosts Humboldt-Del Norte League Big 5 runner-up Arcata (21-7) at 7 p.m. Middletown is the No. 12 seed in the 16-team field while Arcata is the No. 5 seed.
Lower Lake (17-9), the NCL I North runner-up, travels to College of Marin in Kentfield on Wednesday night to play No. 4 seed Branson School of Ross in a girls” opening-round game at 8 p.m. Branson (24-5) is the Marin County Athletic League runner-up. The Trojans are the No. 13 seed in the 15-team field.
Boys
“They”re gigantic,” Middletown coach G.J. Rockwell said of the Huskies. “We”re big and we”re athletic, so we”ll see how athletic they are.”
Middletown, a winner of five straight, will enter the postseason without its top 3-point shooter, Luke Humphrey, who sprained an ankle in the Mustangs” 58-30 league playoff win over Fort Bragg on Saturday.
To bolster an already deep bench, the Mustangs have called up two players from their NCL I North-championship junior varsity squad, center Blaine Amos and Nate Snodgrass.
Arcata”s game is to pound the ball inside, according to Rockwell.
“They go to the post early and often,” he said.
A win on Wednesday would put the Mustangs into the quarterfinals on Saturday in Middletown against either St. Helena or St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo.
Girls
The Lower Lake Troj-ans face perennial playoff contender Branson School in first-around action.
“They play a real high-speed game,” Lower Lake coach Jim Salmina said of Branson. “Teams from that league (MCAL) play with a high confidence level … they expect to win. I”m not sure we”re there yet.”
If the Trojans bring their “A” game, Salmina said they are a dangerous team.
“If we play well, we can upset them,” he said.
