KELSEYVILLE >> Andres Cervantes scored 28 points and Noah Brown contributed 18 more as the Middletown Mustangs jumped all over the Lower Lake Trojans early to clinch the junior varsity championship with a 61-46 victory on Saturday in the final round of the 23rd annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic at Kelseyville High School.
Middletown won the round-robin competition with a 3-0 record and landed four players on the All-Tournament team, led by most valuable player Brown, the Cervantes brothers – Andres and Samuel – and Victor Guzman.
Brown led all players in the tournament – JV or varsity – with 54 points, which was just four shy of the tournament record of 58 set in 2014 by Clear Lake’s Max De Leon. Andres Cervantes was right behind him with 52, more than half of those coming in the final-round victory over Lower Lake. No player in this year’s Hoop Classic scored more points in a single game.
Middletown opened up a 10-2 lead against Lower Lake and never looked back. It was 23-11 by the end of the first period and 38-21 at halftime. The Mustangs’ biggest lead was 21 points early in the third quarter.
To their credit, the Trojans fought back and crept within eight points – 45-37 – early in the fourth quarter before the Mustangs pushed their lead back into double digits to stay.
The Hoop Classic title was Middletown’s seventh in the junior varsity division. Only Clear Lake, this year’s tournament runner-up, has more with eight.
Evan Chernoh’s 13 points, including four 3-pointers, paced the Trojans, who went 0-3 in this year’s tournament. Guido Boyd added eight points and two 3-pointers. Lower Lake’s Keeshawn Bridges was named to the All-Tournament team.
Clear Lake 58, Kelseyville 39
Rodrigo Lupercio’s best game of the tournament powered the Clear Lake Cardinals to a win over archrival Kelseyville and the Hoop Classic runner-up trophy with a 2-1 record.
Lupercio’s many drives to the basket resulted in several virtually uncontested layups and a 17-point night.
Despite what the final score suggests, Kelseyville hung around in this one until the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. Clear Lake scored the game’s first seven points and the Knights were never closer than five the rest of the way.
Brady McGuire had 12 points for the Cardinals, Preston Jones added nine and Josh Damiata had eight. Jones and Seth Mix, who had six points, were named to the All-Tournament team.
Cooper Goff’s nine points paced the Knights, who were 1-2 in tournament action. Joey Mendonca added eight. Mendonca and Robert Chavez were All-Tournament players for the Knights.
