MIDDLETOWN — Noah Cleaver’s putback basket with 40 seconds remaining and free throws by Gael Moreno and JD Smart down the stretch lifted the Terrace Middle School B boys basketball team to a thrilling 52-48 win over Middletown Middle School on Wednesday night in Middletown.
Middletown (6-1), which lost its first league game of the season, held a 31-24 halftime lead before Terrace (5-1) began to heat up from the field in the third quarter.
“We made our move,” Terrace coach Jeremy Hopkins said.
A pair of Smart 3-pointers and Mano Garcia’s 3-pointer in the final seconds of the quarter had the Vikings on the move.
Joey Portlock’s 15 points led Terrace while Cleaver finished with 11 points and four rebounds. Smart had seven points and four steals.
For Middletown, Tyler Galamay led the way with 16 points and Joey Pinola had 11.
Middletown won the A game 51-24 behind 14 points from Harrison Brown and 11 from EJ Rose.
Middletown’s B team travels to Lucerne on Thursday for a 4 p.m. game. Both Middletown teams are in action Monday against Konocti at Lower Lake High School. Action begins at 4 p.m.
In other middle school boys action Wednesday:
Konocti B 35, Lucerne B 24
At Lucerne, the Konocti B squad received nine points apiece from Logan Case and Kaimelo Connolly in beating Lucerne.
Konocti improved to 3-4.
The Rams return to action Thursday in Fort Bragg. The B game tips off at 4 p.m. with the A game to follow.
