MUSTANGS RALLY FOR STOKES TITLE
Moore, MVP Ketchum help M'town erase late 15-point Kelseyville lead in boys championship game
KELSEYVILLE >> Trailing by 15 points late in the third quarter as Kyle Leary’s basket pushed Kelseyville’s lead to 34-19 in the boys championship game of the 49th annual Stokes Tournament on Saturday night at Kelseyville High School, the Middletown Mustangs began the long road back to victory.
No one player was responsible for the Mustangs come-from behind 49-44 victory over the tournament-host Knights, but rather a handful of players cobbled together a thrilling comeback victory before a near-capacity crowd. That said, Middletown head coach G.J. Rockwell, asked about the moment he truly believed the Mustangs would pull out the win over a Kelseyville team that limited the Mustangs to 12 first-half points, didn’t hesitate to answer.
“When Wyatt Moore hit that 3-pointer,” Rockwell said of one of his top reserves. “That’s when I thought we might actually do it.”
Moore buried a 3-pointer with 48 seconds left in the third quarter to cut Kelseyville’s lead — which stood at 34-19 only two minutes earlier — to 36-30.
“He was the catalyst,” Rockwell said of Middletown’s second-half surge.
The momentum generated by Moore’s trey, which capped an Middletown 11-2 run to close out the third quarter, carried right over into the fourth quarter.
Rockwell said Moore’s solid play on defense in addition to the five points he contributed on offense were an integral part of Middletown’s comeback.
Senior guard Cole Ketchum wasn’t far behind his teammate in contributing to the victory. Named the most valuable player of the tournament, Ketchum couldn’t do much right through
the first three quarters and was scoreless on the night as the final period opened.
In fact, Ketchum, injured early during Middletown’s football season and sidelined for most of the Mustangs’ regular season, was replaced on the court at one point, and his upset expression said it all as he left for the bench.
“I was frustrated,” Ketchum said. “I wasn’t connecting, but I knew I had it in me to help the team. Coach always tells me to forge ahead and play through it. I told myself to go back out there and help my team win it.”
Ketchum re-entered the game and did just that. He scored on a driving layup and drew a foul as the fourth quarter opened. He added the free throw to complete the three-point play and make it a 36-33 game. Kelseyville’s Luke Watkins (21 points) answered with his fifth and final 3-pointer of the night to slow down Middletown’s rally, but the wave of momentum sweeping over the Kelseyville gym was clearly with the Mustangs by that point.
Zach Dubois followed a miss by a teammate with a putback basket to make it 39-35, then after two Watkins free throws, Brody Breeden buried a 3-pointer from the corner to cut it to 41-38 with 4:42 left. Dubois scored again with 4:17 remaining to make it a one-point game, then Ketchum’s layup after a Kelseyville turnover put Middletown ahead for the first time all night — and to stay — at 42-41 as the Middletown fans, lots and lots of them, went crazy.
And a Middletown crowd that jammed the bleachers didn’t go unnoticed by the Mustangs and Rockwell.
“That was great fan support,” Rockwell said. “We were hoping we would have a large crowd here and we did.”
Ketchum scored again moments later, again on a drive inside, to give Middletown a 44-41 lead, then he hit the first of two free throws on the Mustangs’ next trip down the floor to make it 45-41 with 2:35 left. It wasn’t over yet. Kelseyville’s Jake Keithly made one of two free throws to slice the Mustangs’ lead to 45-42, but a Breeden basket, set up by a Ketchum assist, pushed the Mustangs’ advantage to 47-42.
The Knights missed two 3-pointers and a two-point shot as the clock wound down under a minute. Dubois’ driving shot with 45.3 seconds left sealed the victory. Leary made two free throws with 30.3 seconds remaining, but the Mustangs were able to run out the clock from there.
“Our offense did a great job,” Rockwell said of the 37-19 margin by which the Mustangs outscored the Knights in the second half.
“It’s a crazy awesome feeling,” Ketchum said after scoring all of his eight points in the fourth quarter to help the Mustangs nail down a hard-earned win. “It feels great. Once we started getting in our rhythm we knew we were going to win it.”
It was the exact opposite situation during the first two quarters when Kelseyville’s fans had plenty to cheer about as the Knights built a 13-point halftime lead before a stunned Middletown crowd.
“They played good defense and we couldn’t get in a rhythm,” Rockwell said of the Knights, who led 11-4 after one quarter and 2512 at halftime. “They were forcing us into turnovers no matter what we seemed to do. It couldn’t get any worse.
“Lopez has them playing well,” Rockwell said of his Kelseyville counterpart, Oscar Lopez of the Knights, a 2012 Kelseyville graduate.
Breeden’s 16 points led the Mustangs while Dubois added 10. Dubois and Lucas DaCosta joined Ketchum on the All-Tournament team. DaCosta, like Ketchum, did all of his scoring in one quarter, putting up seven points in the third period when Middletown’s comeback began.
Lopez said his defense played well in the loss as the Knights (4-4) had a four-game winning streak snapped.
“But it wasn’t enough,” Lopez said. “The physical part we answered them, but the mental part … we have to learn to close it out.”
Lopez was referring to an eight-point fourth quarter that included only one field goal by the Knights — Watkins’ final 3-pointer — and five free throws.
Watkins, who was an easy pick for the All-Tournament team, once again did the lion’s share of the scoring for the Knights, with Leary, another AllTourney selection, finishing with 12 and Keithly with seven. Kelseyville had plenty of shots down the stretch but could hit only one, a testament both to the strong play of Middletown’s defense but also to the Knights going ice-cold from the field at exactly the wrong time.
“They dialed in on Luke in the fourth quarter,” Lopez said of Middletown’s defense homing in on Watkins, who nailed a pair of NBA-length 3-pointers in the first half.
“I told my guys to get out on him,” Rockwell said. “They told me, ‘Coach, he’s in the next zip code.’”
Lopez said losing center Zack Cumins to foul trouble also hurt down the stretch.