MIDDLETOWN — Eight field goals in nine attempts, good for 19 points in one sterling quarter. Eight turnovers, including five in a row, in another. It”s all in the game. In fact, it was all in one half of a game for Middletown Tuesday night against Willits. Quite possibly, the best and worst quarters for the Mustangs this season, statistically speaking.
But it wasn”t the statistics talking in the end. It was Mustang coach G.J Rockwell. What he said was “We”ll take it!” after Middletown captured its third straight victory, a knock-down, drag-out 53-48 victory. As well the Mustangs should, given the fact that the win puts them in a flatfooted three-way tie for the lead in the tense North Central League I race with Kelseyville and St. Helena, thanks to a 54-51 Saints win over the Knights in a game at St. Helena Tuesday night. Each has a 7-2 record with five games to go.
“I don”t care if it”s the best or the worst, it”s a win and we”ll take it,” is what Rockwell said after the much-needed win. “Everybody on the team was in that game and everybody brought a value to the table. Down the stretch people got to step up and they”ve got to play hard, fulfill their role and they are. That was a good game for us.”
The Mustang who took the most significant step up was sophomore Nate Snodgrass, who led Middletown scoring with 12 points. He was unflappable in the final critical moments of the game when he scored half of his points. Snodgrass” most vital contribution was his coolness at the free-throw stripe where he converted four straight when no other Mustang succeeded during the clutch seconds.
“Nate, again. Our sophomore stepped and played hard. He only knows one way to play, and that”s hard. He practices at 100 mph,” Rockwell said.
Willits coach Tim Conrad, who vowed that his Wolverines would play a “spoiler role” last week at Kelseyville after acknowledging they were not in the running for the title, was almost prophetic. Willits, which defeated Middletown in Willits earlier this season, was in this game all the way. Wyatt Sanderson — 17 points — and long-range shooter Matt Green — three treys and 14 points — were nettlesome for the Mustangs all night. And the Wolverines were a mere 3-pointer away from tying the game with eight seconds remaining after Sonny Vasquez buried a shot from the perimeter to set the score at 51-48 Middletown.
Shooting guard Luke Humphrey, the only other Mustang to score in double digits with 10, put the issue out of reach a moment later by converting both ends of a shooting foul called against Willits.
The game took a couple of sharp turns. Willits had the Mustangs down by six (17-11) with two minutes of the second quarter played. But the Mustangs” eight-point streak later in the quarter put them on top. The half ended with Middletown leading 23-22, and on the strength of the Mustangs” breakout third quarter it began to look like they would ease to a victory with a 42-31 lead at the end of the period.
But it was not to be. Willits clawed its way back into contention during Middletown”s faltering fourth quarter. By the middle of the period the Wolverines had chopped Middletown”s lead in half and the Mustangs were visibly struggling. Who knows what might have happened if John Montez, Willits” big man, hadn”t fouled out with just under three minutes left?
Rockwell substituted freely, ending the first half with his whole second team on the floor.
“We were rotating. We had to mix it up because things weren”t going our way. Guys came off the bench and gave us a value tonight that was needed,” Rockwell concluded.
