MIDDLETOWN >> MIDDLETOWN – So much for the home advantage.
It did Middletown not a speck of good to play its first-round game in the 22nd Record-Bee Classic on its own court Thursday night.
Of course, there were other negative factors at work in the Mustangs’ 58-51 loss to Clear Lake, namely a first half in which the Cardinals dominated the defending Hoop Classic champs.
Middletown’s defense had a tough time handling Clear Lake’s big three of Stevie Diaz (20 points), Tanner Hutton (17 points) and Max De Leon (12 points).
“It was a battle,” said Cardinals head coach Scott De Leon. “You got to give them a ton of credit. We were up by 20 I think in the third quarter (18 actually, at 49-31) and they made a game out of it.”
De Leon said he thought his Cardinals (5-2) became a little too lackadaisical after building their lead to that degree.
“The third quarter we came out and relaxed a little bit,” he said. “We kind of went into in to cruise control. We’re going to have to learn to not do that. Overall it’s tough to come here to this gym and come out with a win.”
Mustang coach G.J. Rockwell took the loss in stride after watching his team struggle for most of the first half as Clear Lake built a 32-21 lead.
“Our rotation on defense tonight was horrible,” he said. “This team is going to be a constantly growing team. There’s only one place to go.”
Two Mustangs – Rob Carey and Jake Rivera – fouled out before it was over.
Beckett Hoage’s 11 points paced the Mustangs (4-2) while Carey and Trevor LaFave had 10 apiece.
In the early varsity game Thursday:
K’ville 88, Lower Lake 56
The Kelseyville Knights were hotter than the surface of the sun in the first half against Lower Lake, scoring 57 points and cruising to an easy win in their Hoop Classic opener. The 88 points is a single-game tournament record, breaking the old mark of 87 set by Clear Lake twice, both times in 2007.
“We haven’t been shooting the ball that well of late,” Kelseyville head coach Scott Conrad said.
That streak is certainly over.
Even with starter Kyle Ellis on the bench in foul trouble in the opening period, the Knights reeled off 32 points to go up 32-9. Nick Pfann scored all 13 of his points in the quarter and Nate Carpenter had nine of his 13 in the period.
Kelseyville didn’t cool off one bit between quarters, opening the second period with a 13-0 run that featured six of Hunter Beatty’s 12 points. The Knights led by as many as 36 points twice and went into halftime up 57-22.
Lower Lake was never closer than 27 points in the second half despite the best efforts of Marlon Jones, who led all scorers with 24 points, including five 3-pointers. Hokulani Wickard finished with 10 points.
Gideon Turner’s 14 points led an ultra-balanced Kelseyville attack. Carpenter, Pfann and Beatty joined him in double figures and two other Knights – Ellis and Ean Valenzuela – had eight apiece.
Kelseyville is now 6-1 on the season while Lower Lake is 1-4.
