Clear Lake Falconhoops

Clear Lake 58 – Pearland 55

(latest update of this article at 11:31 a.m. Wednesday)

Those who appreciate the beauty and the grace of the sport of high school basketball live for a thrilling, close game where victory is just a hair away from defeat and every player on the team makes an obvious difference as their team emerges victorious. Tonight’s win over Pearland in the Pearland gym was just such a game. Every player on Lake’s team made a noticeable difference. Examples of this include:

-         Cody Kinsey coming in the game to relieve Armie. When Armie was sidelined due to foul trouble (the first time with only one minute in the first quarter gone), Cody repeatedly kept Clear Lake in the game with outstanding play on both ends of the court. Cody scored 9 points, had six assists, and some key rebounds. Although every player deserves one, Cody should receive the honorary game ball if there were one.

-         Jimmy Witten, warrior that he has become, pump faked his way underneath the hoop to 12 points despite playing against much taller players with much longer arms. All of Jimmy’s five rebounds came at critical times in the game as Jimmy consistently rose to the occasion. Jimmy’s defense on Pearland’s Justin Reynolds was so exemplary it should be made into a training video.

-         Kendrell Thompson making a very timely three to tie the game at 55 with less than 25 seconds remaining in the game. It was Kendrell’s first successful three of the contest. Kendrell made both of his three point attempts in the fourth quarter and had five of Lake’s eight steals in the game.

-         RJ nailing two baskets in the first and third quarters to keep it close plus consistently excellent defense to harass his opponent. RJ made a basket and a free throw toward the end of the second quarter to give Lake a 12 point lead, their largest of the game. RJ tied with Jimmy for a team high 12 points. His continued recovery from a shoulder injury seems to be progressing well and his injury was not apparent as he raced around the court often seeming to be in more than one place at a time.

-         Christian putting on a dazzling dribbling exhibition down the baseline to score a reverse layup and literally shock his opponents as they realized they should not underestimate him. It was like watching Christian weave through some tall trees with deep roots as he maneuvered around three of them to score. The crowd loved it. Please, no one tell Christian that he is not a point guard.

-         Fulton working his butt off on defense and helping to double up on Pearland’s 6’8” Justin Reynolds. Fulton repeatedly combined his cunning and his stealth to be there when he needed to be.

-         Armie Lewis, snake bit though he was, was prevented from playing most of the game due to early foul trouble, came in off the bench after having to watch most of the game and nailed a three from the right wing to win the game with less than 4 seconds left on the clock. It was Armie’s only three point attempt.

-         Andrew Gorie playing up over the rim when we needed him there.

-         Anthony Bilcic playing heads up defense although he did not get much playing time.

-         Masterful coaching by Coach McDonald in this game was glaringly obvious.

Most expected this to be a great basketball game and it was that. Going into this game Pearland is the #2 defensive team in the region and Clear Lake is the #2 offensive team in the region. In this game Pearland held Lake 11 points under their average score. Another way to look at it is Lake scored 14 points above Pearland’s defensive average. Notice the three point difference coincides with the margin of victory. In the last four minutes of the third quarter the game was tied five times. In the fourth quarter the game was tied with less than 30 seconds remaining. It was a thrilling basketball game with all the marbles on the line (Do kids play marbles any more?). Perhaps Pearland could have played a little better although it was probably their best game in district play this season. If Lake had played their best (kinda like they did in California at times), the outcome would have been evident much sooner. And if a frog had wings, he would not ......

What happened at the end of the game?
With 18 seconds left on the clock (I believe), Kendrell nailed a three to tie the game. With 11 seconds remaining Cody fouled Pearland’s guard who missed the free throw. With time running out Kendrell passed to Armie in the corner. With only four seconds remaining on the clock Armie Lewis launched his only three point attempt from the right wing and hit nothing but nylon. As the ball fell through the net to the floor Pearland’s outstanding coach, Steve Buckelew, called timeout and was heard by one official over all the noise and pandemonium that erupted when Lake apparently won the game. After a lengthy discussion at the scorer’s table it was agreed to put 2.4 seconds back on the clock because the timekeeper had not stopped the clock (because he was not directed to by the official perhaps due to the noise level). Due to Clear Lake’s impressive defense, Pearland had difficulty in-bounding the ball. They finally did and as their player dribbled down the right sideline, one of the officials across the court blew his whistle just before the Pearland player launched a desperation shot from behind the mid-court line as time expired again. Another caucus at the scorer’s table occurred. Much to the dismay of the Clear Lake crowd, damned if they didn’t put the 2.4 seconds back on the clock again to allow Pearland another chance to score. It seems the official who blew his whistle thought the clock had been set to .24 seconds, not 2.4 seconds. When the buzzer did not sound after more than a second the official believed it was due to the horn not being turned on so he blew his whistle to signal the end of the game. This was deemed an inadvertent whistle as it should have been and Pearland was granted another 2.4 seconds to play. It was here when the Lake crowd began to wonder how many times we would have to win this game. When Pearland in-bounded the ball Kendrell stole it by preventing the pass and Andrew Gorie picked up the ball and advanced toward Lake’s basket as time expired again. No harm done as Lake was finally victorious.

The official’s mistake was in not realizing that it is not legal to put .24 seconds on the clock to continue the game at the end of a quarter. If the time remaining is less than .3 second, the quarter is over. I know they are human but perhaps these officials should be encouraged to brush up on the rules some more. When there is potentially a district championship at stake, the outcome of the game should not be determined by the officials, especially on a bogus call. It was bad enough that the officials took Lake’s second leading scorer (Armie Lewis) out of the game almost from the beginning by calling petty fouls to prove they knew how to blow their whistle. Armie got two fouls in the first minute of the game and his fourth foul came with only 1:15 ticked off in the third quarter. All but one of the fouls called on Armie seemed petty and insignificant.

Epilogue
I am not accustomed to predicting the outcome of a Lake varsity game in writing on the web site. I am very aware that high school basketball has what I like to call  "a high unpredicabilty factor". This is largely due to so many possible variances in a teenager's performance on the court combined with the uncertainty of the officials and to a lesser degree, the coaching and maybe the phase of the moon. What this means is only a fool would predict the outcome of some high school basketball games with any certainty. Believe me, I am well aware of that but I have so much faith in these boys and this TEAM. It is not just wishful thinking on my part.

This web site has been active since 2001. I have provided articles about the games since early 2002 when I assumed the headmaster duties from Bruce Greenwood who started the site by posting scores of the games.  Since the Lake loss to Pearland in the Lake gym,  I  adamantly predicted a Lake victory over Pearland. I really expected a margin of 7 to 9 points due to my perception of Lake's dominant offensive prowess (and my faith in these boys) so I was partly wrong. I suppose if Lake had played just a bit differently that wider margin might have happened.  

Never once during the game did I doubt that Lake would win but after my heart stopped about six times in the last minute of the game and then they kept adding time back on the clock, I began to wonder just how big a fool I really am. Fortunately my brain took over and I reminded myself that when Lake wins their last two district games and the first game of the playoffs, this team will have the best record of any Lake team since the '89 State Championship team and the '96 team that went to the regionals. Then I didn't feel like such a fool.

Housekeeping
1. Please ignore the District tie breaking rules on the GENERAL INFO Page on this site. After a decade of using the rules as stated on this site, last Spring the district coaches voted to change those rules. As soon as I receive the newly revised rules, the new rules will be posted. Based on a very cursory explanation, it seems to boil down to a playoff game or a coin flip. Pearland has one game remaining to play on Feb 9. Clear Lake has two. Lake still must win over Creek and Alvin to tie for the district championship. Although there is a playoff date built into the schedule (Friday, Feb 16), a playoff game would not be in Lake's best interest. Pearland would have had a week of rest and preparation while Lake would have only one day. A coin toss seems a better option.

2. A different approach to providing photos for the web site is in work and will be announced soon.

Individual Scoring: RJ Turner 12, Jimmy Witten 12, Kendrell Thompson 10 (5 steals),
Cody Kinsey 9 (6 assists), Armie Lewis 5, Fulton Brisco 4, Andrew Gorie 4, Christian Enriquez 2

FALCON STATS	FG made	FG attempts	%
2's	17	37	45.9%
3's	5	12	41.7%
free throws	9	12	75.0%

SCORE BY QUARTER	1	2	3	4
Clear Lake	15	31	44	58
Pearland	14	23	41	55

LINESCORE	1	2	3	4	Final
Clear Lake	15	16	13	14	58
Pearland	14	9	18	14	55

REBOUNDS	LAKE	THEM
Offensive	6	16
Defensive	13	19