Clear Lake Falconhoops

 Clear Lake 59 – Clear Creek 54 

YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS IF YOU EXPECT TO WIN A CLOSE BALL GAME. The Clear Creek Wildcats proved that again Friday night at George Carlisle Field House when they were defeated by the Clear Lake Falcons 59-54 in a hard fought battle between the long time rivals. Creek went 5 of 14 from the line in the fourth quarter to lose the game after leading by as much as 12 for almost three periods.  

Of course it doesn’t help when your leading scorer is missing from the lineup. Creek’s 6’6” guard, Logan Lancon, suffering from a shoulder separation, did not participate. Lancon, looking forward to a full ride at TCU, was advised by TCU to go ahead with the surgery before the season ended so his high school career has ended.  

Some people believe the Wildcats play better when they do not rely on Lancon and considering how the Falcons had been playing lately and how well the Wildcats played against them in the first round, the game and the struggle to make the playoffs for Lake was up for grabs. 

At the half the score was 30-20 with Creek up by 10 but the Wildcats had failed to watch channel 55’s High School Sports Live two weeks earlier. Had they watched they might have known to be better prepared to deal with “Sparky” Hartman. In the third quarter alone, by my numbers, Lake’s guard, Steve Hartman, had 8 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 rebounds as he took over the game and dazzled the crowd one more time. The speedster sparked his team as they edged closer to overtaking the lead. Hartman tied the game at 34 with just under three minutes remaining in the third quarter and Jacob Horton, on an assist from Steve, nailed his third rainbow trey, to put Lake ahead for the first time 34-37 with 1:35 remaining in the third quarter. Although Creek would keep it close, Lake would not relinquish the lead from this point despite a determined Creek effort. With 50 seconds left in the third quarter Hartman fed Mark McCollum for a lay-in to make it 36-39. On the last shot at the end of the quarter Jacob nailed his fourth and final three pointer to make it 36-42. 

The Falcons outscored the Wildcats by 20 points in the nine minute span from halftime to one minute into the fourth period to lead 36-46. How? With an excellent team effort. Not to mention the truly impressive play of Sparky Hartman, who finished with a team high 14 points, the incredible speed of Brian Campbell, the beauty of Jacob Horton’s three point shot, solid play from Mark McCollum, and Jay Williams, as well as impressive teamwork all around.

At the 5:56 mark of the final quarter Brian Campbell blew by the defender to score from the left side of the basket and put Lake up 38-50. In the next two minutes Creek outscored Lake 8 to 4. With the score at 46-54 and over four minutes showing on the clock Lake spread the floor and started to run the clock. Good Wildcat defense combined with some late desperation fouling in the fourth quarter and several Falcon fourth quarter turnovers allowed Creek to narrow the score to 52-56 with 35 seconds remaining despite solid free throw shooting by Clear Lake's Cody Kinsey, the second leading free throw shooter in the region. The final score was 54-59, Lake by 5.

With this win Clear Lake has made the playoffs. A look at the playoff picture that will make your head hurt is coming up.

By the way, I hope these other coaches never teach their players you do not have to foul only the man with the ball (especially when he is almost the best free throw shooter in this part of Texas). 

Photos for this game can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops200708  by Sunday evening

Individual Scoring:

Steve Hartman 14 (6 rebounds, 5 assists, TBD steals-at least five), Jacob Horton 12 (4 of 7 treys), Jay Williams 10,

Cody Kinsey 7 (7 of 9 free throws), Mark McCollum 5, Brian Campbell 4, Jason Hollis 2, Kevin Anderson 2, Andrew Gorie 2