KELSEYVILLE — Middletown”s Luke Humphrey scored what his coach, G.J. Rockwell, called “a quiet 31″ to lead the way to the championship in the title game of the 18th Record-Bee Hoop Classic on Saturday night. But the implications of the Mustangs” 72-54 victory over previously unbeaten Clear Lake rang loud and clear. They will be heard from again this season in the North Central League I, in which they co-championed last year.
The championship in this year”s Hoop Classic for Middletown was the fourth in the last seven years and second in the last three. The Mustangs” 3-0 sweep through the tournament boosted their record to 15-7 in that spate of time, overshadowing the three other county schools who annually vie in the Classic.
Humphrey, voted this year”s Classic MVP, concluded the tournament with 59 points. All the more amazing, he did it wearing a brace on an injured ankle suffered a night earlier. His total included five 3-pointers.
“Holy smokes! Wow!” exclaimed Rockwell, who was not aware of his senior point guard”s total on Saturday night until informed of it after the Mustang win. “It was a quiet 31.”
Quiet, maybe, but the Cardinals heard more than enough from Humphrey and company, who ended their six-game win streak to open the season.
After holding a tenuous 29-26 lead at the half, Middletown took charge by outscoring Clear Lake 19-13 in the third quarter and advancing to a 48-37 lead by the end of the period. The wheels came off for the Cardinals when they failed to convert the first seven times they inbounded the ball and didn”t get their 27th point until Kyle Donald converted a free throw with only 3:28 remaining in the quarter. Middletown used that time to mount a 10-point run and establish a 13-point — 39-26 — lead.
The Cards (6-1) also missed on their first four shots from the floor to open the fourth quarter.
“I think if we”d have shot better it would have been a closer game,” said Cardinal coach Glenn Wienke.
Boistrous support from the Clear Lake rooting section and a large homemade sign imploring “Go Big Red” failed to motivate the Cards.
Backing up Humphrey in the scoring column for Middletown (6-3) were Nick Dellia with 12 points and Tanner Alves with 10. Donald did the only meaningful scoring for Clear Lake with 23, including three treys.
Rockwell attributed the convincing win to airtight defense and to the meshing of members of the Mustang football team who came to his program late. He didn”t offer it as a reason for a 16-point thrashing at St. Helena a week earlier. “We played horrible and St. Helena played great,” he said.
“We”re trying to get used to playing together and enjoying the season,” he added, acknowledging that the Classic went a long way in that direction.
“We got a long way to go,” Rockwell said.
“Middletown played well,” Wienke said with a shrug. “What can you say? They”ve got a lot of horses.”
Or, more succinctly … Mustangs.
Kelseyville 72, Lower Lake 41
After being cut to pieces in 20-point-plus losses to Middletown and Clear Lake, the Kelseyville Knights (8-3) finally came alive, beating the Lower Lake Trojans 72-41 in the third-place game early Saturday night. Lower Lake went winless for the third tournament in a row this season and is now 0-10 overall.
Kelseyville forward Max Huff concluded an individually good tournament with 21 points in the rout. Dustin Thaxton chipped in 16 and Wyatt Ferrell 14 in a game the Knights led from start to finish.
Kelseyville held a monstrous 65-30 lead at half, at which point Knights coach Scott Conrad essentially and mercifully benched his mainstays.
Most humbling for the overmatched Trojans was a second-quarter stretch when they went 1-for-12 from the floor.
Assessing his Knights” under-achieving tournament, which they started with a 7-1 record, Conrad said, “I think it was the frustration and not shooting the ball well against Clear Lake (on Friday night). We got frustrated. Our defense was OK but you gotta put the ball in the hole. We couldn”t make 3-pointers. Outside we were terrible. Our frustration just kind of boiled over, which is something we don”t want to see.
“We were afraid to have another bad night like we had against Middletown (Thursday night). We”ve got to learn to play hard and not be afraid to make a mistake.”
Alex Toshich led the Trojans with eight points and Jesse Meldrum finished with seven.
