KELSEYVILLE — The Cloverdale Eagles earned a spot in the Stokes Invitational boys championship game Friday afternoon with a come-from-behind 48-40 victory over the Middletown Mustangs at Kelseyville High School.
Cloverdale outscored Middletown 15-3 in the fourth quarter.
The two North Central League I rivals, who meet twice more later this season, could have easily ended up in the Stokes finals had they not been placed on the same side of the tournament’s bracket.
“We could not hit a shot, whether it was a layup or from the outside, in the fourth quarter,” Middletown head coach G.J. Rockwell said.
That wasn’t the case for Cloverdale’s Shayne Turner, who scored 11 of his team-high 18 points in the fourth quarter during which the Eagles also went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line (they were 14-for-18 for the game).
Three of Middletown’s starters – Will Chastain and brothers Andres and Sammy Cervantes – all sat our a portion of the fourth quarter in foul trouble and the Eagles (7-2) made the most of the situation.
“Losing those guys hurt the flow of the offense, which came to an abrupt halt,” Rockwell said.
On a night when the Mustangs held Cloverdale’s top player, junior center Josh Lemley, to only eight points, other Eagles stepped up. Besides Turner, junior forward Logan Axell heated up in the third quarter, scoring nine of his 11 in the period, including two 3-pointers.
Middletown outscored Cloverdale 15-7 in the second quarter to open up a 21-14 halftime lead.
“We played incredibly good defense and we were rebounding really well,” Rockwell said of the first half.
While the Eagles move on to play Ukiah in the Stokes championship game Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Middletown (6-4) draws Kelseyville in the third-place game at 4:30 p.m.
Andres Cervantes led Middletown with 13 points, Chastain finished with 11, and Jimmy Rockwell added seven points.
In other late Stokes boys action Friday:
Ukiah 68, Kelseyville 62 (OT)
At Kelseyville, the Kelseyville Knights tied the score at 57-all with seconds to play in regulation, but the Ukiah Wildcats went on to win an overtime thriller that moves them into Saturday’s championship game against the Cloverdale Eagles.
“It was a fun game and the gym was loud,” Kelseyville head coach Jeremy Linnell said.
Kelseyville (4-5) had an opportunity to win the game late in regulation but missed a shot. The two teams traded 3-pointers early in the overtime before Ukiah pulled away. The Wildcats went on to outscore the Knights 11-5 in the extra period.
“We’ve just got to learn how to function better at the end of games,” Linnell said. “We’re competitive, but we’re not quite there yet. We’ve got to learn how to win these types of games.”
Ukiah was able to hit some clutch shots in the overtime period while the Knights were not, according to Linnell.
“We had three possessions in a row where we took some tough shots and missed them,” he said. “They made their shots, we didn’t and that’s the difference.”
Joey Mendonca’s 20 points powered the Knights, Bodhi Baird added 13 while Robert Chavez, Cory Holt and Tyler Linnell each had eight.
Kelseyville draws Middletown in the third-place game Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
Ferndale 62, Technology 24
At Kelseyville, Garrett Christiansen scored 17 points and Emmitt Albee added 15 as the Ferndale Wildcats beat the Technology Titans to earn a spot in Saturday’s consolation championship game against Upper Lake, a 51-49 winner over Elsie Allen in the other consolation semifinal held Friday. That game tips off at 1:30 p.m.
Cayden Thompson’s 11 points led Technology. The Titans play Elsie Allen for seventh place on Saturday at noon.
