LAKE COUNTY >> While it’s tough reaching the North Coast Section Division IV basketball playoffs, winning a game there has been next to impossible for Lake County teams and yet that’s the task facing Middletown Mustangs on Wednesday night at home against Marin Catholic of Kentfield in a first-round game that tips off at 7 p.m.
In another Division IV opener that same night, Kelseyville (16-9) travels to Napa to take on Justin-Siena (19-9) at 7 p.m.
Also on Wednesday, the Upper Lake Cougars (22-4) are off to San Francisco to play Bay School (19-8) in a first-round game in the Division V playoffs. Tip-off is 6:30 p.m.
Division IV
Middletown, the North Central League I champion with a 13-1 record, won its final 11 games to finish 20-6 overall, the best record posted a Mustangs team in at least the last 25 years. Even with so much momentum going into the postseason, the Mustangs could do no better than the No. 9 seed in the 14-team field. Marin Catholic, a perennial Division IV contender and owner of three Division IV championships in its history, brings a 17-11 record to Middletown.
The winner of Wednesday’s game faces the unenviable task of playing No. 1 seed St. Mary’s of Berkeley in the quarterfinals on Saturday. St. Mary’s (25-3) has won three straight Division IV titles and five of the last six.
Middletown also reached the Division IV playoffs last season, head coach Anthony Bazzano’s first at Middletown, losing 61-17 to Salesian, the No. 2 seed in this year’s playoff field. The Mustangs also opened the current season against Salesian, falling 60-44 at Middletown on Dec. 2.
Kelseyville, the runner-up to Middletown in the NCL I standings under first-year coach Jim Hale, is making its first trip to the playoffs since the 2009-10 season when the Knights lost to Piedmont 60-36. Like Middletown, Kelseyville has never won a Division IV playoff game and the Knights figure to have their hands full against the Braves, who are the Marin County Athletic League champions and No. 6 playoff seed to the Knights’ No. 11.
An upset by Kelseyville would advance the Knights to Saturday’s quarterfinals against the winner of a first-round game between No. 3 Cardinal Newman (23-5), the North Bay League champion, and No. 14 John Swett (13-15), the low seed in the field.
Division IV semifinal games are March 4 and the championship round is the weekend of March 6-7.
The last Lake County team to win in Division IV was Clear Lake, a 54-40 winner over Middletown in the opening round of the 1999 playoffs.
Division V
The Upper Lake Cougars (22-4), runner-up in the NCL II standings this season, are playing in the same venue — the University High School gym in San Francisco — where they lost to University High School in the first round of last year’s Division V playoffs. This time around the Cougars’ opponent is Bay School, the runner-up in the Bay Counties League Central Division.
Upper Lake and Bay School have two common opponents — Roseland Prep and Rincon Valley Christian. Upper Lake split against Roseland Prep and swept Rincon Valley as part of its NCL II schedule while Bay School beat both teams by comfortable margins.
The Breakers are the No. 6 seed in the 16-team Division V field while Upper Lake is 22-4.
If the Cougars can claim their 23rd victory of the season, they will move on to the quarterfinals on Saturday against the winner of a first-round game between No. 3 seed St. Joseph Notre Dame (17-11) and No. 14 Bentley Upper School (12-11).
Top seeds in the field are No. 1 Valley Christian (24-4) and No. 2 University (20-8). Sonoma Academy (17-3), the team that beat out Upper Lake for the NCL II title, is the No. 10 seed and is home Wednesday to play No. 7 Convent of the Sacred Heart (12-8).
