Clear Lake Falconhoops

A nearly packed house arrived at Kruger Field house in high anticipation for the Clear Lake versus Galveston Ball game. The matchup was well hyped around the school for the past few days. It is very rare for games or anything for that matter to live up to the hype but this is one of those rare cases where it did. 8^th ranked Galveston Ball came in with an unblemished district record of 10-0. Clear Lake was tied for second place with two other teams sporting a 7-3 district record so you can see how outsiders would automatically pick Galveston to win. In the famous words of ESPN College Football Analyst Lee Corso “Not so fast my friend.”         

Clear Lake did not score on the opening jump as it is used to. It was Galveston that had the early lead. Ball High jumped out to a 5-0 advantage until 5:48 in the first when Matt McCollum hit a three pointer to get the Falcons on the board for the first time. Matt finished with a game high 21 points and four steals in a dominant performance believed to be his career best, certainly his season best performance for sure. Blake Gregorcyk decided to jump in on the action and followed an easy lay-up with a deep three pointer to close out the first quarter with Clear Lake trailing 13-15.         

Jared Miller began the second period with two made free throws to tie up the game. The score did not stay tied for long, # 31 Ismael Ruiz, their stud post, scored six straight points. Ruiz made two consecutive lay-ups that resulted in three point plays. A three pointer by Jacob Horton stopped the bleeding. Jacob finished second on the team with 14 points for the game and four clutch threes. A steal by Matt, led to a fast break lay-up by Kyle Ashton. Kyle finished with seven points and 12 rebounds. Clear Lake trailed entering halftime 30-36.          

Mark McCollum started the second half off by going to the free throw line making one of two shots. His twin brother’s three point shot with five minutes remaining in the third quarter gave Clear Lake their first lead of the game. Matt’s shot put the score at 37-36 with five minutes in the third. A steal by Jackson Hardage who had a rock solid game led to a Blake Gregorcyk three pointer. Blake, who seemed on a mission to make an impact on the game, stole the ball and finished one of the game changing plays of the evening with a lay-up. Clear Lake outscored Ball 16-5 in the third quarter leading to a five point lead with one quarter yet to play.          

Clear Lake had everything pointing to a victory....... the fans were excited, the team was making their shots, and all they needed to do was play eight more minutes of quality basketball. Galveston showed why it is such a good team starting out the quarter in a full court press that led to two straight turnovers and four straight points, cutting Clear Lake's lead to three points with 6:35 to go. A three pointer by Jacob Horton and a Matt McCollum lay-up put the Falcons ahead by eight with 5:11 to go. The building erupted with cheer and emotion. The Student section stood for its team cheering on the Falcons. After a Galveston lay-up cut the lead to 9 with 3:37 to go, Jacob answered with his final three point bucket of the night. His shot would expand the lead to 12 with 2:31 to go, an insurmountable lead for Galveston. The Kruger Krazies immediately started a “10-1” chant notifying the pesky Galveston fans that the Falcons are the only team to defeat them in district competition. The game ended with Clear Lake defeating Galveston Ball by the score of 69-61.         

This game would not have been the end of the Falcons season if they had lost. This game just showed how great a team they can potentially be when running on all cylinders. Lake is now tied with Clear Brook for second place in 24-5A standings due to a Clear Springs loss to Brazoswood. Hopefully Clear Lake can continue its four game winning streak Friday at Clear Springs High School in a race to the top of the district standings.