LOWER LAKE >> Sshhh! Mum’s the word on the Middletown basketball team’s offense.
Partly because there isn’t much to talk about. But mostly because Mustang coach G.J. Rockwell doesn’t want everybody to know that … although, indeed, they might have guessed as much on Friday night when the Mustangs dispatched a tough Lower Lake team 54-51 in the second round of the Record-Bee Hoop Classic on the Trojans’ court.
But there wasn’t anything classic — or classy for that matter — about the Middletown victory.
Then, again, it was not a dull game. Middletown, which is seeking to secure its sixth Classic championship, and Lower Lake, battling for its first Classic title since 2007, posed an excellent match-up.
“They’re good, they’re real good,” Rockwell said after a game in which neither team held more than a four-point lead from the beginning. “I don’t want to take anything away from them,” he added. “They’re strong and they’re tall. We’re small. So we just gotta think defense, defense, defense.”
Lower Lake indeed has an interesting team, if only because a good chunk of its leadership comes from 14-year-old freshman forward, Hokalani Wickard. In two games in the Classic, a win over defending champion Clear Lake and Fridaynight’s loss to Mtown, Wickard has scored an overall 35 points.Unfortunately, Wickard’s performance was not enough to offset Middletown’s proficiency at the charity stripe, particularly that of Anthonie Guzman, who made six of his eight free throws while being cheered on by a healthy contingent of Middletown fans.
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To their credit, the Trojans took the Mustangs all the way to the buzzer. With 2.2 seconds left they made one last desperate 3-point attempt that bounced off the left side of the backboard.
Guzman and Joshua Rebolledo contributed 16 points apiece to the Middletown victory.
In the early varsity game on Friday:
Kelseyville 74
Clear Lake 62
Kyle Ellis and Victor Fernandez certainly made their presence felt at different stages of Kelseyville’s victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals in the early Hoop Classic varsity game on Friday.
Ellis scored 15 of his team-leading 23 points in the first quarter while Fernandez tallied 11 of his 17 points in the second half, including nine points near the end of the third quarter, to lead the Knights to their first tournament win.
Nick Pfann also finished with 17 points as Kelseyville squared its record at 1-1 in the round-robin competition. The Knights close things out tonight against host Lower Lake at 6 p.m.
Kelseyville never trailed in the game. An Ellis free throw early in the first quarter made it 3-2 and put the Knights ahead to stay. Kelseyville pushed its lead to double digits on a handful of occasions in the first half but the Cardinals, led by Damian Lopez (20 points) and Jared Strate (15 points), kept the game within reach for the better part of three quarters.
Separation began to take place late in the third quarter after a three-point play by Strate pulled the Cardinals to within 48-41 with 3:16 left. That’s when Fernandez hit everything in sight. Back-to-back Fernandez baskets made it 52-41 before Jordan Chana scored for Clear Lake. Fernandez answered with a 3-pointer to make it 55-43. After the two teams exchanged baskets, Fernandez closed out the quarter by hitting yet another shot to give Kelseyville a 59-45 lead.
When the fourth quarter opened, Fernandez struck again to make it 61-45. Clear Lake was never closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Clear Lake, now 0-2 in the Hoop Classic standings, faces Middletown tonight at 7:30 p.m.
