KELSEYVILLE >> In complete control and ahead by as many as 19 points late in the third quarter, the Middletown Mustangs survived a furious fourth-quarter rally by the Clear Lake Cardinals to prevail 52-47 in first-round junior varsity action on Thursday at the 23rd annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic in Kelseyville.
Middletown (4-0) and Clear Lake (6-1) have combined to win the last 11 titles in the Hoop Classic’s JV division. Both teams also entered play undefeated.
While the Mustangs took a first step toward winning a sixth Hoop Classic championship in the early game Thursday, the Kelseyville Knights received 20 points from Joey Mendonca and another 12 from Cooper Goff to beat the Lower Lake Trojans 53-43 in the late game. The Knights have had a long dry spell in the Hoop Classic, last winning the tournament in 2001.
Middletown
The Mustangs scored the game’s 13 first points before Clear Lake finally found the range from the field on a Preston Jones 3-pointer with 2:18 left in the opening period. The Cardinals hit two more 3-pointers during a late surge and chopped Middletown’s lead to 16-11 by quarter’s end. They wouldn’t get that close again until the final seconds of the game when they pulled to within 51-47.
Middletown enjoyed a double-digit lead for much of the final three quarters. The Mustangs went up 44-25 on a driving layup by Samuel Cervantes with 1:20 left in the third quarter, their biggest lead of the game.
Clear Lake finally got the lead under 10 points on a Seth Mix basket with just less than four minutes remaining. A three-point play by Andres Cervantes, Samuel’s twin brother, once again pushed the Middletown lead into double digits at 51-39. Clear Lake answered with an 8-0 run to reduce the Mustangs’ advantage to 51-46 with 17.3 seconds left.
Andres Cervantes came up with a big play at that point, stealing the ball from the Cardinals and drawing a foul with Middletown in the double bonus. He hit the first of two free throws to ice it with 11.9 seconds remaining.
“We did everything right,” Middletown coach Jon Hoogendoorn said. “Obviously they (Cardinals) didn’t have their best shooting night, but our defense was phenomenal. We were flying all over the place.”
Explaining his team’s letdown during the final four minutes of the game, Hoogendoorn said, “For 3 ½ quarters we outhustled them, but then we let them creep back in it.”
Noah Brown’s 16 points led the Mustangs while the Cervantes brothers also finished in double digits — Samuel with 13 and Andres with 12.
“He’s a great ballplayer,” Hoogendoorn said of Brown, who was a real problem for the Clear Lake defense.
Jones led the Cardinals with 16 points, including three 3-pointers. Josh Damiata and Brady McGuire each had 10.
Kelseyville
Kelseyville gradually pulled away from Lower Lake in the the late game. The Trojans, who trailed just 14-11 after one quarter, 25-17 at halftime and 35-26 through three quarter, were very much in it the entire way but couldn’t generate that one big run they were looking for down the stretch.
The Knights benefited from a very balanced attack led by Mendonca and Goff, but one that also featured nine points from Robert Chavez and eight more from Rafael Perez.
Goff had two of the team’s four 3-pointers.
Izzac Carver’s 10 points led the Trojans while Jared Meek and Raul Gomez added six apiece. Darian James and Elijah Hernandez finished with five each.
Lower Lake plays Clear Lake in the early game today at 2:30 p.m. Following the JV free-throw and 3-point contest at 4 p.m., Kelseyville plays Middletown at 4:30 p.m.
