MIDDLETOWN >> Cinderella lives here.
Well, she does as far as the Lower Lake Trojans know. Especially after yet another overtime victory that enabled Lower Lake to move atop the North Central League I standings. The Trojans squeaked by a surprisingly good Middletown team on Friday night in the Middleton gym, 56-54.
The victory gives the red-hot Trojans, winners of five straight, a 7-1 record, one game better than a trio of 6-2 teams in Kelseyville, Fort Bragg and Cloverdale.
Lower Lake has quickly become a force to be reckoned with under first-year coach Shannon Tubbs.
“I knew we had the talent. It was just a matter of whether the kids were going to come together as a team. We’re a young team. I didn’t expect them to come together quite like this,” Tubbs said.
The Trojans moved into the league penthouse and to 12-7 overall when Ethan Watson buried a 3-pointer with 1:12 remaining in overtime that gave Lower Lake the points it needed to ensure a victory. The score stood 55-49 at that point.
The overtime evolved from Middletown’s refusing to roll over in the fourth quarter. Josh Rebolledo scored seven to spark an 18-point period and Middletown wrested the lead and held it until the final 32 seconds when Hokulani Wickard sank a 3-pointer of his own.
The strong play of Wickard (18 points) and Jerod Alexander (12 points) was critical in the end. But no one hit a bigger shot all night than Watson in the overtime period.
“He’s been big for me all season. He comes off the bench. He’s not a kid who will walk away from that kind of situation. He’s got a green light all day long,” Tubbs said.
Tubbs pondered a rags-to-riches season for his “Cinderella team.”
“We had a rough (4-6) preseason,” he said. “We kind of turned things around. The kids made the adjustment and talked about the things they wanted to do. But we got to keep it going We’re only half way through. Whoo! What can you say? This is not an easy place to play. It’s out of control. But it was exciting and it was fun.
“The win keeps us where we want to be. Every night you gotta play to win. Every night there’s going to be somebody to try to knock us down,” Tubbs added.
Garrett Chernoh scored 11 points for the Trojans.
Rebolledo’s big 25-night powered the Mustangs, now 1-7 in league and 5-10 overall. JakeRivera added 17 points.
