ARCATA — Although Nadav Dicovski scored 25 points in his final high school game, it wasn’t nearly enough for the Middletown Mustangs in a 78-43 loss to the Arcata Tigers on Wednesday night in the first round of the North Coast Section Division 4 boys basketball playoffs at Arcata High School.
The fifth-seeded Tigers (18-7), the undefeated Humboldt Del Norte-Big 5 champions this season, weren’t able to get their 3-point shooters going but dominated the Mustangs (13-13) in the paint, according to Middletown head coach Jake Diehl.
“They have two guys shooting over 40 percent from the 3-point line, but we held them to only three 3-pointers,” Diehl said. “But they beat us up in the paint pretty good.”
Middletown, the No. 12 seed, hung tough for a quarter before Arcata pulled away during a 24-10 second period. The Tigers led 42-21 at halftime. They added another 24 points in the third quarter.
“They are just crazy fast,” Diehl said of the Tigers. “They move the really, really well.”
Middletown played hard to the end, but was outmatched, according to Diehl.
“I’m proud of my team,” Diehl said following the final game of his first season as head coach. “We had a really good season. It’s never easy when you have another coach come on.”
Diehl also gave a shoutout to his seniors, including Dicovski.
“He went out with a bang,” Diehl said. “I’m proud of all my seniors. They worked hard for me all year.”
Wyatt Moore, another of those seniors, added six points.
Arcata plays at No. 4 seed Marin Catholic in the quarterfinals Saturday.
