Announcement
Clear Lake was supposed to lose their home opener against La Porte according to some so-called experts. Did not happen. With La Porte’s Rett Thibodeaux and Dustin Kempf missing from their lineup (due to football) today at 2 p.m. when the Falcons took on the Bulldogs, the two teams matched up well despite the slight height advantage enjoyed by La Porte. Clear Lake’s tallest player is 6’5” Jimmy Witten and it is critical for him to see extended playing time, but the refs took a personal liking to Jimmy early in the game. Jimmy was in early foul trouble thanks mainly to picky calls and the refs natural tendency to call fouls on the big men. Guess Jimmy will just have to learn some tricks to avoid those foul calls.
In the first quarter Clear Lake garnered an early lead after Justin Kurtz and Armie Lewis were on target and then Kendrell Thompson hit a trey from the corner to put Lake up 12 -3. In the second quarter it looked like it would be more of the same as the Falcons increased their lead to 11 with 2:53 remaining in the period. With three minutes remaining in the first half, Lake up by 12, 29-17, Jimmy Witten had to sit down with his second foul. Then their post, Jereal Scott, # 44, went to work to narrow the gap. Lake held firm and was up by 9 at the half when Fulton Brisco hit 2 to make it 34-25.
In the third quarter Jimmy got an immediate third foul and was called to the bench. La Porte narrowed the difference to 3, 37-34 in less than the first two minutes of the second half. Lake seemed temporarily ineffective on offense as a 14 point lead dwindled while La Porte scored repeatedly. Maybe the Falcons wanted to get our hearts pounding good before we go digest all the turkey and trimmings tomorrow. It worked. The second half was exciting. Anyway, after a two minute interval when the Bulldogs outscored the Falcons 14 to 3 and brought the score to 37-39, La Porte’s first lead of the game, Lake got back on track when Justin hit a 3 to put Lake back in the lead 40-39. In the next two minutes the lead changed hands twice and the game was tied twice in a see-saw battle. As the quarter progressed, the refs seemed to make things worse by calling multiple player control fouls on Clear Lake (most of these were called by the same ref). Just before the three minute mark Justin hit another trey to tie it at 45 before La Porte went up again by two. Then Brandon Wynn ended a long dry spell, lasting over six games, when he nailed a trey to make it 48-47 at 2:52 remaining. With 35 seconds showing on the clock in the third quarter, Justin, on his way to a game high 21 points, hit another three. The quarter closed at 56-52, Lake up by 4 in an exciting ball game.
One minute into the fourth quarter the score was 56-55, Lake by 1, and the foul count was 10-4 (the 10 was on Lake). Lake would not relinquish the lead again though. RJ Turner and Kendrell scored to increase the lead to 63-57 before Jimmy fouled out at the 4:39 mark. The Bulldogs brought the scored to within 4, 66-62, with 2:30 remaining. Then RJ hit another lay-up to give a little breathing room before La Porte scored to make it 68-64 with 2:07 left to play. As mentioned earlier, numerous player control turnovers plagued the Falcons. Our final charging foul looked very untimely with 44 seconds remaining until Armie quickly stole the ball and passed to Kendrell for a lay-up. This increased the lead to 6 but the Bulldogs were tenacious as Bulldogs tend to be. With 40 seconds left and Lake leading 71-68, La Porte called their final timeout and started fouling to regain possession but too little, too late. With just enough good free throw shooting, Lake prevailed with a final score of 76-68. A great way to start a wonderful holiday season in the most bountiful country on earth.
Several varsity alumni were spotted in the crowd including Alan Hudson, Dan Rieke, David Pearce, Scott Oswald, Aaron Greenwood, and Blair Greenwood. Blair was sporting his NCAA national championship ring from the Baylor women’s team. "Now how does that work?", you ask. Blair was the manager of the Baylor Girls team last year. (Additional photos in the ALBUMS SECTION)
Happy Thanksgiving
Individual Scoring:
Justin Kurtz 21 (11 rebounds),
Kendrell Thompson 17, Armie Lewis 14,
RJ Turner 7, Jon Gilmer 5, Jimmy Witten 5, Fulton Brisco 4, Brandon Wynn 3
|
Falcon Stats |
FG made |
FG attempts |
% |
|
2's |
19 |
35 |
54% |
|
3's |
7 |
18 |
39% |
|
free throws |
17 |
26 |
65% |
|
Score by Quarter |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
Clear Lake |
14 |
20 |
22 |
20 |
|
La Porte |
10 |
15 |
27 |
16 |
|
Line score |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Final |
|
Clear Lake |
14 |
34 |
56 |
76 |
76 |
|
La Porte |
10 |
25 |
52 |
68 |
68 |
|
Total Rebounds |
US |
THEM |
|
Offensive |
6 |
14 |
|
Defensive |
22 |
19 |
