MIDDLETOWN — Officially it’s the Marilyn Tallman gymnasium on the Middletown High School campus although most people simply call it Tallman Gym.
During basketball season, that name gets chopped down even more; it’s simply The Barn.
Few places in Lake County rock the house like The Barn does on game nights, usually Tuesday and Friday, but the day of the week is irrelevant if the Mustangs are facing a big game at home. Such was the case Wednesday when Middletown, which hasn’t seen its home floor much this season, opened a four-game homestand to close out its North Central League I schedule. Up first were the Fort Bragg Timberwolves, a middle-of-the-pack team in this season’s league race, but a team that had upset on its mind against a Middletown club desperately fighting to stay in the title hunt.
Fort Bragg led almost the entire way and had a 10-point lead with 2:48 left in the fourth quarter. An upset appeared to be in the offing, but the Mustangs staged a pretty remarkable comeback to tie the score at 60-all by the end of regulation. They went on to score the first 10 points in overtime en route to a thrilling 79-74 victory, a win that kept them within a game of league-leading Clear Lake.
While Middletown’s players on the floor were most responsible for making the come-from-behind victory possible, Mustangs head coach G.J. Rockwell said the school’s supportive fans deserved a big assist, and the veteran coach was being completely sincere in his appraisal of the situation late in the game with his team down by double digits and all but dead in the water.
“We were behind almost the entire time and didn’t give them a whole lot to cheer about, but they stuck with us,” Rockwell said. “We hit a couple of shots there (late in the fourth quarter) to get it going, and the crowd just started to pick up. You could feel the excitement build in the gym. Next thing you know our guys are a step faster and playing better.”
The excitement level wasn’t the only thing building. The decibel level also spiked.
“I personally don’t hear it because you’re so into the game,” Rockwell said of the crowd noise. “How I recognize it is loud is when they can’t hear me on the floor, and I’m a pretty loud guy. When I’m telling one of my players to use his legs while shooting free throws and he can’t hear me, I know it’s loud.”
How loud did it get as Middletown rallied to catch Fort Bragg in the closing minutes of regulation?
“My AD Airic Guerrero told me that’s the loudest he’s heard it. It (crowd noise) did not stop. It was seven minutes of the roof bouncing up and down.”
After the game, several people came up to Rockwell and made note of the crowd support and the deafening noise.
“A number of people mentioned it,” he said.
With three home games remaining for the Mustangs in their race for the league title — they were home Friday against Lower Lake and they’re home again next week against Willits (Tuesday) and Clear Lake (Thursday) — Rockwell said he wouldn’t mind seeing the gym packed every night.
“There’s a lot of positive cheering going on,” Rockwell said. “They’re definitely engaged and not just there to sit with their girlfriends/boyfriends.”
