LAKE COUNTY — The Middletown Mustangs, North Central League I champions, are home Wednesday night to play Piedmont in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division IV boys” basketball playoffs. Tip-off is 7 p.m.
Middletown (19-6) is the No. 13 seed in the 16-team Division IV field. Kelseyville (20-6) and St. Helena (19-7), NCL I runners-up behind Middletown, secured at-large berths in the field and also play Wednesday.
Kelseyville, the No. 16 seed, plays No. 1 Salesian (26-2) at 8 p.m. in Richmond. Salesian is the defending Division IV champion as well as the reigning Bayshore Athletic League winner. The Pride have won two of the last three Division IV championships.
St. Helena, the No. 14 seed, travels to Santa Rosa to play No. 3 Cardinal Newman (24-4) at 7 p.m.
First-round winners advance to the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Quarterfinal hosts are the highest surviving seeds from first-round action. Semifinals take place Feb. 29 and the Division IV championship game takes place either March 2 or March 3.
If Middletown can beat Piedmont and advance in the tournament, the Mustangs would play the winner of No. 5 Arcata (22-4) vs. No. 12 Moreau Catholic (10-16) in the quarterfinals.
If Kelseyville can pull off a huge first-round upset, the Knights would draw either No. 8 Berean Christian (16-10) or No. 9 Fortuna (19-9) in the quarterfinals.
Middletown dropped a 50-44 decision to Arcata in last year”s first round and a 58-29 decision to eventual section champion St. Mary”s in the opening round of the 2010 playoffs.
Middletown also lost first-round games in 2005 and 2006.
The last time a Lake County boys” team won a Division IV playoff game was in 2003 when Lower Lake beat Healdsburg and Drake before losing to eventual section champion Hercules in the semifinals. That Lower Lake team, coached by Marty Udy, went 25-6.
Kelseyville”s boys are making their first playoff appearance since 2003.
Other first-round games on Wednesday have No. 15 Healdsburg at No. 2 Marin Catholic (21-6), No. 10 McKinleyville (18-7) at No. 7 St. Patrick/St. Vincent (16-10), and No. 11 Lick Wilmerding (18-1) at No. 6 Justin-Siena (20-7).
Girls
The Lower Lake Trojans (19-7), third in the North Central League I standings this season behind champion Willits and runner-up Cloverdale, did not land an at-large berth in this year”s field. The final berths went to No. 14 Berean Christian (18-8), No. 15 Healdsburg (15-12) and No. 16 El Molino (11-13).
Willits (20-6) is the No. 9 seed and hosts Justin-Siena (14-13) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in first-round action. Cloverdale (20-6) pulled down the No. 13 seed and travels to Vallejo to play St. Patrick/St. Vincent, the No. 4 seed, on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
The top four seeds in the field are St. Mary”s (22-6), Salesian (22-3), McKinleyville (20-6) and St. Patrick/St. Vincent.
This is the first time since the 2007-08 season that Lake County girls” teams have been shut out of the postseason.
