KELSEYVILLE — When the Ukiah Wildcats cut a 17-point Middletown lead to seven early in the fourth quarter, the Mustangs didn’t panic the tiniest bit Friday night during a 50-40 victory in the winner’s semifinal round at the 49th annual Stokes Tournament in Kelseyville.
The Mustangs’ win moves them into the Stokes boys championship game Saturday against Kelseyville at 7:30 p.m.
“They handled their business,” Middletown head coach G.J. Rockwell said of the Mustangs’ final minutes against Ukiah. “I told them not to get away from what we’ve been doing, stay focused on playing good defense, and we did a good job.”
Mental toughness is certainly one thing the Mustangs (8-2) aren’t lacking, according to Rockwell.
“They just stuck to the plan against a good team,” Rockwell said. “Ukiah has three shooters and they were starting to make some shots.”
The Wildcats never were closer than 38-31. After Ukiah made a nice run against the Mustangs, Middletown calmly answered with a 6-0 mini-run of its own. Cole Ketchum’s layup following a Ukiah turnover, a Brody Breeden putback of a teammate’s missed shot, and a twisting layup by Ketchum restored order to the game as far as the Mustangs were concerned as they moved back out to a 44-31 lead.
The closest Ukiah got after that was the final score.
“I thought they did a good job,” Rockwell said in assessing his team’s overall play and excluding a four-minute stretch to open the game when neither team could get out of its own way — it was just 9-6 in Middletown’s favor after one quarter.
Ukiah scored the first points of the second quarter to make it 9-8 but the Wildcats didn’t find the basket again for a long, long time. Meanwhile Middletown’s offense found its stride to the tune of a 16-0 run and a 25-8 lead, and Lucas DaCosta fueled that push with eight of his 10 points, including a 3-pointer.
“DaCosta was really cranking it up,” Rockwell said.
Ketchum also scored six of his team-leading 14 points in the second quarter while Luke Hoogendoorn had four of his 10 in the period. Zach Dubois also finished with 10 points, giving the Mustangs four players in double figures for a second straight night.
Middletown’s lead continued to grow into the third quarter before Ukiah began to make some noise. Until then, the Wildcats struggled to do much of anything against a Middletown ball-hawking defense that limited them to 11 first-half points — six coming on 3-pointers.
Ukiah was able to generate a bit of an inside game in the third quarter, drawing a number of fouls and hitting nine free throws in the period, but it didn’t long.
Rockwell called his team’s victory a quality win against a well-coached Wildcats squad led by former Willits and Upper Lake head coach Duane Nelson.
Ukiah (6-4) plays Elsie Allen for third place Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
In other Stokes boys action Friday:
Kelseyville 54, Elsie Allen 42
Luke Watkins scored 19 points before fouling out with 5:22 remaining as the Kelseyville Knights and head coach Oscar Lopez punched their ticket for Saturday’s Stokes championship game against Middletown with a victory over the Lobos.
Kelseyville and Middletown play for the tournament title Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
It won’t be the first time Lopez has reached the Stokes finals. He also did it in 2011 — as a senior playing for Kelseyville — against Justin-Siena of Napa, a game the Knights lost.
“Middletown will be a good test for us to see where we are,” Lopez said.
The two North Central League I rivals will meet twice more this season in league play. They are currently tied for the league lead at 2-0.
“It will be two defensive teams going at it,” Lopez said of Saturday’s title game.
The Knights led the Lobos by double digits almost the entire second half. Elsie Allen opened the third quarter by scoring two straight baskets to cut Kelseyville’s led to 27-20, but Watkins buried a 3-pointer to start a 8-0 Knights run. Manny Acosta’s 3-pointer right before the quarter buzzer gave Kelseyville its biggest lead of the night at 41-22.
The Lobos battled back one last time and were able to close to 50-42 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Joe Suvanseng and two Ryan Phan free throws with 1:44 remaining. Again the Knights, who were now without Watkins, answered the challenge as Jake Keithly drained two free throws with 53.1 seconds left. After Elsie Allen missed a shot its next time down the floor, Keithly pulled down the defensive rebound and the Knights put the game away on a Tyler Leary basket with 10 seconds to go.
Keithly sank five of his six free throws in the fourth quarter, earning the praise of Lopez for his clutch play down the stretch, especially with Watkins out of the game.
“Jake stepped up and hit some big shots,” Lopez said.
Despite his team’s double-digit lead throughout much of the second half, Lopez said he never felt like the game was safely in hand until the final seconds.
“We were never comfortable,” Lopez said.
Kelseyville’s coach said he was pleased with the play of his defense, which held Elsie Allen to 16 first-half points.
Joey Gentle had seven points for the Knights. Fifteen of Watkins’ 19 points came on 3-pointers.
Suvanaseng led the Lobos with 11 points and Yousef Abuhamdeh, the Lobos’ sophomore center, had 10.
Upper Lake 47, Willits 35
Sammy Avalos scored 20 points and Kai Young finished with 16 as the Upper Lake Cougars beat Willits for the second time this season.
Upper Lake (5-6) held a 27-19 halftime lead.
The Cougars draw Forest Lake Christian of Auburn in the consolation championship game Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Forest Lake def. Lower Lake
Lower Lake forfeited its consolation semifinal game with Forest Lake because the noon starting time interfered with the final exam schedule at Lower Lake.
The Trojans (0-8) play Willits in the seventh-place game Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
JV boys basketball
Middletown 54, Clear Lake 35
At Cloverdale, double-doubles by Middletown’s Oscar Cruz (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Brandon Costlow (12 points, 10 rebounds) carried the Mustangs to a first-round win over the Clear Lake Cardinals at the Cloverdale JV Tournament.
Middletown almost had a third player finish with a double-double as Cooper Johnson had nine points and 15 rebounds.
For Clear Lake, Raul Reyes scored 12 points and Peyton Portlock had nine.
Both teams play two more games Saturday as the tournament wraps up.
