Announcement
Galveston Ball
1-16-09
Martin Dehlinger
The Galveston Daily News tabbed tonight’s matchup as the game of the week in the greater Houston area. Unfortunately Clear Lake was nowhere to be found. Both teams walked into the game with undefeated district records so someone was going to have to lose. It seems Clear Lake has not had a completely healthy team since the beginning of the holidays. Mark McCollum was the latest casualty suffering a right shoulder sprain in practice earlier this week. The game was played in front of a packed house in the always loud and energetic Galveston Ball High School gym. This was the first meeting of the two apparent heavyweights of District 24-5A.
Jacob Horton got the team on the board early with a three 11 seconds into the game, followed by another by Nick Arrington. Things were looking good for the Falcons until # 31 Ismael Ruiz got his hands on the ball. Ruiz was a force all night terrorizing Clear Lake on the offensive and defensive boards. Desperate for a spark and some rebounding help, Coach McDonald put in his injured captain, Mark McCollum, whom did not start due to his shoulder. The Falcons hot start was a thing of the past by the end of the first quarter with their lack of size and poor rebounding being the number one concern entering the second quarter.
Lake began the second quarter trailing Galveston Ball 14-10. The second period was all about who was going to capitalize on turnovers. With Nick Arrington being forced to the bench with a 3rd personal foul midway through the second quarter, the ball handling responsibilities were left up to Matt McCollum. Matt countered the Galveston Ball pressure defense with silky smooth ball handling and precision passes. Kyle Ashton, starting in his first game in nearly a month and a half due to injury, exploded late in the second quarter to score 8 points in the quarter. Ashton finished with a game high 17. Clear Lake trotted off the court and into the locker room with a bad taste in its mouth after allowing a second buzzer beater to end the quarter.
Beginning the second half the Falcons came out of the locker room looking extremely stagnant. Lake actually rebounded a little better this quarter only this time retaining control of the boards was the issue with numerous defensive rebounds by the Falcons being stolen and turned into Ball High points. Midway through the third period Jacob nailed three's on two consecutive possessions to cut the Ball lead to 44-32 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. But every time Lake would rally it seemed Ball would answer with a score of its own and increase the lead along the way. With things spiraling downwards in a hurry Blake Gregorcyk hit a three with 35 seconds remaining to give the Falcon fans some hope. As it had been all night Galveston had other plans with a third consecutive lay-up to beat the buzzer.
Clear Lake began the fourth quarter down 51-35 and hoping for one last buzzer beater, but this time by one of their own. Matt jumped right into the action with a steal and a deep three to ignite yet another Falcon rally. Kyle Ashton joined in with a jump shot with 5:40 to go to make the score 54-42. Galveston Ball seemed to be teasing Clear Lake to come back during the fourth quarter because on three straight possessions the Tornado’s missed all of their free throws. On the next Lake possession on a perfectly executed play, Mark McCollum nailed a 10 foot bank shot to cut the lead to 10 with four minutes left to play. With 1:44 remaining a foul was called on a Galveston guard and the player did not agree with it, so much to the extent that he received a technical foul seconds later. Mark McCollum stepped to the line to shoot the foul shots but missed both. His twin brother made the next two for the technical foul. One possession later Matt drained a three with 1:25 remaining to put the score at 58-53. That was as close as the Falcons would get. With a made free throw by Ball, Lake was going to have to score on this possession to have a chance. They did not. Traveling was called and Galveston Ball put the nail in the coffin by breaking Clear Lake's press with a thunderous dunk by #31 Ismael Ruiz. The game resulted in a Falcon loss with the score of 63-55.
Clear Lake hopped on the 40 minute bus ride back with plenty to think about on the way, namely a solution to their ever increasing rebounding problem. With only 3 returning players from the varsity team last year the experience factor is a concern. The Falcons season is by no means a lost cause. With 10 remaining district games there is still plenty of time to show their true colors. When this team plays to its potential it can be one of the best shooting teams in the state. Clear Lake’s next chance to prove this will be Tuesday at home against Clear Springs. Tuesday will be a chance to avenge their collapse earlier this season where it was outscored 18-2 in the third quarter against Springs in the CCISD Tournament. Once again the Falcons upcoming game looks to be increasingly important in the race for the District Championship.
-Martin Dehlinger
In other District 24-5A action
Clear Creek 44 at Clear Brook 59
Braszoswood 64 at Clear Springs 66
Dickinson 86 at Alvin 58
Action photos of this game are posted. To view photos of this game, go to Current Season Photos . Sometimes you can use the Browser's "BACK" or "BACK Arrow" to return to this website.
Individual Scoring:
Kyle 17 (7 rebounds, 9 of 10 free throws), Jacob 12 (3 blocks),
Matt 8 (6 assists, 3 steals), Nick 5, Blake 5 (5 rebounds), Mark 4 (5 rebounds), Brick 2, Jake 2 (2 CD's)
|
FALCON STATS |
FG made |
FG attempts |
% |
|
2's |
9 |
29 |
31.0% |
|
3's |
8 |
27 |
29.6% |
|
free throws |
13 |
17 |
76.4% |
|
SCORE BY QUARTER |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
|
Clear Lake |
10 |
24 |
35 |
55 |
|
|
Galveston Ball |
14 |
29 |
51 |
63 |
|
|
LINESCORE |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
|
Clear Lake |
10 |
14 |
11 |
20 |
55 |
|
Galveston Ball |
14 |
15 |
22 |
12 |
63 |
|
REBOUNDS |
Clear Lake |
Galveston Ball |
|
Offensive |
8 |
20 |
|
Defensive |
16 |
21 |
