KELSEYVILLE — It’s the season of giving and Middletown’s Andres Cervantes served up quite a holiday surprise early in the fourth quarter of the Mustangs’ 54-32 victory over the Kelseyville Knights on Saturday in the third-place boys game of the 48th annual Stokes Invitational at Kelseyville.
Cervantes, later named to the All-Tournament team after scoring 15 points in the win over the Knights, put the finishing touches on the Mustangs’ victory with a ferocious one-handed slam dunk that brought the crowd to its feet while giving Middletown a 46-26 lead. Middletown’s reserves took over seconds later.
Kelseyville (4-6) figured to be in for a tough time even at full strength, which the Knights were not. They took the floor without their leading scorer, Joey Mendonca, after he was ejected the night before in a hotly contested loss to Ukiah. Ejected players have to sit out the next game.
“They (Mustangs) run stuff real well,” Kelseyville head coach Jeremy Linnell said of a Mustangs starting lineup that features the lightning-quick Cervantes brothers – seniors Andres and Sammy. “We didn’t function very well against them. Middletown just out-executed us. We weren’t getting in the proper positions to run our offense and they took advantage.”
Middletown led 16-7 after one quarter and substituted freely throughout the game, giving its reserves plenty of playing time. The Mustangs took a 28-18 lead into the second half and were comfortably up by double digits the rest of the way, pushing that advantage to 20-plus late in the game.
Both Cervantes brothers scored 15 points to lead the Mustangs, who enter the Christmas break with a 7-4 mark. Will Chastain added nine points.
For the Mendonca-less Knights (4-6), All-Tournament selection Bodhi Baird finished with 11 points and Cory Holt added eight.
“We’re young and still learning, still struggling,” Linnell said. “Our goal was to be competitive and I think we’ve done that for the most part.”
Middletown beat Elsie Allen before losing to eventual Stokes champion Cloverdale in the semifinal round. Kelseyville opened with a victory over Technology before dropping an overtime thriller to Ukiah in the semifinals.
Middletown and Kelseyville are off until Jan. 3 when they’ll open North Central League I play against each other at Kelseyville.
In other Stokes final-round action Saturday:
Championship game
Cloverdale 43, Ukiah 37
At Kelseyville, Cloverdale won its second straight tournament, beating Ukiah in the Stokes championship game. Ukiah made a late push to close the gap on the Eagles (8-2), who were in control throughout.
Cloverdale’s Josh Lemley was named the tournament’s most valuable player, joining teammate Dylan Muller on the All-tournament team. Ukiah’s Quincy Hayes and Dylan Muller were also honored.
Cloverdale won its own tournament, the John McMillan Holiday Invitational, prior to participating in the Stokes Tournament.
Seventh-place game
Elsie Allen 64, Technology 34
At Kelseyville, the Elsie Allen Lobos of Santa Rosa beat the Technology Titans of Rohnert Park in the seventh-place game.
