MIDDLETOWN >> In a battle that went down to the final buzzer, the Middletown Mustangs held off the Kelseyville Knights 58-56 in a North Central League I varsity boys basketball thriller on Friday night in Middletown.
Kelseyville (9-1 league, 18-4 overall), the defending league champion, could have all but put away another league title with the victory but instead suffered its first league loss and had an 11-game winning streak snapped.
Fueled by 28 points from a red-hot Thomas Cook, including seven 3-pointers, the Mustangs (7-3, 14-7) maintained a share of second place in the league standings along with Clear Lake and Cloverdale, both winners on Friday night.
“It was a great win for us, a great team win,” Middletown coach G.J. Rockwell said. “We played hard the whole game.”
You’ll get no argument from Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad on how well Middletown played before a packed house at The Barn.
“Middletown played a great game, really shot the ball well and they played good defense,” Conrad said. “The biggest difference is they outrebounded us on the offensive boards. The first time we played them (a 63-41 Kelseyville win on Jan. 9 in Kelseyville) we got the offensive rebounds. Tonight they did. They outhustled us.”
Kelseyville led 32-28 at halftime but Middletown gained the momentum with a 14-6 third quarter.
“Our defense started flowing really well,” Rockwell said.
Middletown opened up as much as a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter before Kelseyville came charging back. The Knights got as close as 57-56 with 24 seconds remaining. Middletown hit the first of two free throws to go back up by two, but Kelseyville rebounded the missed second free throw, came down the court and missed a potential game-winning shot. The Knights grabbed the offensive rebound and couldn’t convert what Conrad called “a very contested 2-footer” as time expired.
“My kids played really hard the entire way and I’m really proud of how hard they played,” Conrad said.
If Middletown’s edge on the boards was one key to its win, so was Cook’s accurate shooting, especially from beyond the 3-point line.
“He was friggin’ on fire,” Rockwell said.
Added Conrad of the Middletown senior, “He was fantastic.”
Another key, according to Rockwell was the final 4:20 of the second quarter. With a handful of Middletown players in early foul trouble, the Mustangs went to their bench and left only one starter on the floor.
“Nash Field, Johnny Hoogendoorn, Jimmy Rockwell and Victor Guzman came off the bench and played their butts off,” Rockwell said. “They kept us where we needed to be going into halftime.”
Andres Cervantes added 10 points in the win while Luke Holt and Trey O’Neill finished with eight apiece.
“We like playing Kelseyville,” Rockwell added. “Their coach does a great job, they play hard, they play the right way. It’s like a big chess match.”
Randy Pfann scored 21 points to lead the Knights, including five 3-pointers, and Trey Conrad added 13 points with four 3-pointers.
“G.J. does a fantastic job with his guys,” Conrad said of his Middletown coaching counterpart. “Their kids play hard, play clean. We’re gonna miss playing those four guys,” Conrad added of Middletown seniors Cook, Holt, O’Neill and Jeffrey Morris. “We’ve had some great games over the years.”
Middletown also won the junior varsity game 51-36 behind a balanced scoring attack that featured 11 points from Will Aden, nine from Will Chastain, eight from Jorge Fonseca and seven from Aidan Skinner. Rafael Perez led Kelseyville with nine points while Niklas Helms and Bodhi Baird each had six.
“They played their butts off,” Middletown coach Jon Hoogendoorn said of the Knights, who recently lost a handful of their players to the varsity squad. “I never felt like the game was in hand. He (Kelseyville coach Gus Schillinger) has those guys playing well.”
In other boys action Friday:
Clear Lake 68, Lower Lake 60
At Lower Lake, the Clear Lake Cardinals remain tied for second place in the NCL I standings after beating Lower Lake and snapping the Trojans’ three-game winning streak.
Clear Lake (7-3, 13-9) played without its leading scorer on the season, Tanner Hutton (flu), for the second straight game but was able to win the all-important fourth quarter after the two teams entered the final period tied at 47.
“I knew if they had the lead or it was close going to the fourth quarter they would be tough to beat,” Lower Lake coach Tim Biasotti said. “Those guys (Cardinals) have played like 50 games together in the offseason. They know each other, they’re disciplined and they are a more experienced team, and they usually come out on top in the close games.”
“Give a lot of credit to Lower Lake,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said. “They played us really hard, but I think we wore them out a little bit there at the end.”
Austin Davis and Jake Elsa, both with 13 points to lead Clear Lake, combined for 14 of Clear Lake’s 21 points in the fourth quarter, and Josh Damiata added another five.
“Davis was a huge inside presence for us,” De Leon said. “He also had 10 rebounds, six of them defensive, and he was really, really solid tonight.”
Damiata played well at both ends of the floor for the Cardinals down the stretch as did Elsa, according to De Leon. Yet another key contributor was Rodrigo Lupercio, who grabbed nine rebounds, six of them offensive. Tj Marcks added 12 points.
Lower Lake (5-5, 9-13) built a 35-31 halftime lead largely on the strength of a 23-13 second quarter.
“Lower Lake took it to us,” De Leon said.
Hokulani Wickard scored 18 of his team-leading 26 points in the first half for Lower Lake.
“Hokulani is a beast,” De Leon said. “Another kid who I thought played really well for them was Michael Taliaferro.”
Taliaferro finished with 11 points and Taylor Scott had 10.
Clear Lake also won the JV game, 76-52, as the team’s freshmen combined to score 50 points. Leading the way were freshmen Donovan Valadez with 15 points, Matthew Martin with 12 and Evan Coakley with 10. Lower Lake scoring was not reported.
RVC 62, Upper Lake 53
At Santa Rosa, shooting for a season sweep of Rincon Valley Christian, the Upper Lake Cougars had to settle for a split after falling to the host Eagles.
Rincon Valley took a 36-33 lead into the fourth quarter but quickly moved out to a double-digit advantage, according to Upper Lake coach Justin Dutcher.
Upper Lake (6-4, 14-6) switched into a pressure defense but Rincon Valley was able to break it enough times to score a handful of easy layups.
“Every time we would try to make a run, they would get a layup,” Dutcher said. “We couldn’t put together the stops to make it competitive down the stretch.”
Kenny Hodges tried to rally Upper Lake as he scored 14 of his team-leading 23 points in the final period. Colton Goetjen added 10 points and nine rebounds while Hank Nevarez finished with seven points and nine rebounds.
Upper Lake won the JV game. The score wasn’t reported.
