M’town starters, bench get it done
Mustangs overpower Forest Lake Christian 68-25 as Cougars, Trojans fall
When Middletown’s starters were on the floor, which wasn’t very often after the first quarter, they ran the Forest Lake Christian of Auburn right off the court Thursday night during first-round boys action at the 49th annual Stokes Tournament in Kelseyville.
Come to think of it, Middletown’s reserves did the same thing to the Falcons in a 68-25 victory that ended with a running clock.
“Their chemistry is good, they’ve been together a long time,” Middletown head coach G.J. Rockwell said of the 11 players that make us the Mustangs’ talented roster in 2021-22. “They’re playing good basketball right now.”
Quick hands, quick feet and quick thinking are all part of Middletown’s game, the foundation of which is a suffocating defense that swarms to the ball.
“We played good defense,” Rockwell said of the 14 points allowed by the Mustangs in the first half.
After an early exchange of baskets had the Mustangs (6-2) leading 7-5, it was all Middletown, including a 18-0 run to end the first quarter.
When Middletown scored the first four points of the second quarter to go up 295, Rockwell replaced all of his starters with some very capable reserves, including Wyatt Grothe, Wyatt Moore and Roberto Chaires. Before Middletown’st starters rotated back in late in the second quarter, Middletown’s lead had grown to 40-11.
“I’ve got some good guys who come off the bench,” Rockwell said.
Grothe ended up with 10 points, Chaires added seven more and two other reserves — Nadav Dicovski and Evan Harper — finished with six points apiece.
Middletown’s starters
and reserves split up the third quarter before the reserves took over in the fourth.
“You want to get your starters playing time this early in the season, but it’s hard to do that in a game like this,” Rockwell said.
There’s no telling how many points Middletown starters Brody Breeden (13 points), Cole Ketchum (10 points) and Zach Dubois (10 points) could have put up had they logged more minutes because they scored at will against Forest Lake’s defense in the first quarter.
Nathan Blackburn and Jack O’Neill scored six points apiece for Forest Hill.
Middletown plays Ukiah on Friday at 3 p.m. in the winner’s semifinals while Forest Hill draws Lower Lake in the consolation semifinals at noon.
In other Stokes firstround boys games Thursday:
Elsie Allen 49, Upper Lake 30
The Elsie Allen Lobos defeated the Upper Lake Cougars, who did not suit up starter Sammy Avalos, one of their top scorers.
Kai Young’s 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, led Upper Lake (4-6) and Darian Loans Arrow had five.
Joe Suvanaseng’s 14 points powered the Lobos, who led 11-4 after one quarter and 22-13 by halftime.
Upper Lake plays Willits in the consolation semifinals Friday at 10:30 a.m.