Clear Lake Falconhoops

La Porte 70 - Clear Lake 68 in overtime.

Those who watched the La Porte – Dallas Pinkston game in the Texas Invitational Tournament this past weekend saw an impressive, fairly well-rounded La Porte squad with some noticeable talent (Dallas Pinkston had previously defeated Clear Lake before La Porte beat Pinkston in overtime). With La Porte’s 6’4’ senior guard Kevin Perkins (#10) signed with Texas A&M Corpus Christi and 6’7” senior post man Jereal Scott (#44) inked with Steven F. Austin University, some expected a spanking might be in store for the Falcons. But the Falcons had more on their mind than the upcoming Turkey Day Feast. They knew the Bulldogs would be worthy adversaries but with the loaded arsenal of the Falcons, Lake was not about to be embarrassed.

Despite this narrow loss, the Lake squad worked hard, looked good at times, and would have defeated many of their rivals with an effort like the one displayed in the La Porte gym on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Lake’s head coach Lynn McDonald knew it would take a complete team effort to beat the solid La Porte squad but the Falcons left some of their tools at home when they packed for the short trip to La Porte.

Lake should have lost this game by more than 10 points due to any one of the following:
1. Poor outside shooting from the arc (2 of 16 from three point land), meager success with anything from more than five feet from the hoop, and several missed layups (22 of 47 two point attempts).
2. 11 missed free throws compared to La Porte’s 5 misses ( La Porte was 20 of 25 from the charity stripe);
3. Lake’s leading scorer, senior Kendrell Thompson, who has at times carried the team on his back, did not show up until the fourth quarter. Thompson, who is averaging 20.3 points per game through seven games this season, went scoreless through three quarters (0 for 4) before coming alive in the fourth period to score 11. Thompson fouled out with 7.8 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and was consequently unavailable during the overtime.
4. Poor officiating. Why any coach thinks he can schedule a 5A basketball game on the afternoon before Thanksgiving Day and get any quality officials is a mystery. All three officials were inexperienced refs with each yet to complete his third season calling varsity ball. Consequently, the game was replete with officiating errors. After a first half of stinky officiating and a very vocal crowd, two of the officials visibly withdrew throughout much of the second half and quit making many calls except obvious ones but one official, a real glutton for punishment, insisted on staying bad throughout the game. They are human after all.
5. Lack of depth off the bench. Today in 5A varsity ball in Texas it takes ten really good players to compete with many of the teams out there. Not just the top tier teams either. Against a team like La Porte this season, it takes a full team to win. This will be true for several teams Clear Lake will face this year. Andrew Gorie has returned from injury status and was suited out but was not allowed to play. Reserve guard Steven Hartman sustained what appeared to be a knee injury five minutes into the first quarter and did not return to the game. Let’s hope Steven mends quickly over Thanksgiving and his injury is minor.

Any one of these five factors above could have caused a lopsided victory for the taller, supposedly quicker Bulldogs. Instead, the lead changed multiple times and the game was tied at least six times from the second through the fourth quarter and was a close game throughout. So why did the Falcons only lose by 2 in overtime? La Porte did not look all that good against Lake because of superb defensive play by the Falcons (17 steals for the Falcons plus several Bulldog turnovers). Lake played smarter, quicker basketball at times, lots of hustle and hard work, glimpses of brilliance by Fulton Brisco and RJ Turner although we have come to expect even more, superb play by Jimmy Witten and Armie Lewis, and good team basketball most of the game. Armie had his best game of the season so far and seems to be back on track. Jimmy played his first complete game of the season. Witten had 11 rebounds against bigger, taller opponents with longer arms and did not get in foul trouble due to savvy ball. We were beginning to believe we would have to change Jimmy’s jersey because the refs seem to have an affinity for calling fouls on Witten’s #44 if he failed to smile or something.

This was an exciting basketball game that Clear Lake should have won. It demonstrated some of the obvious strengths of the Falcons. With Lake’s tenacious defense that was intensified to very impressive, tenacious defense at times, it offered some encouragement for those who might look forward and those who know the Falcons will become more consistent as the season progresses.

FYI: Spotted in the crowd: Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield. It seems Winfield is starting guard RJ Turner’s uncle. The Falcons next game is at home Saturday against Pasadena Memorial.


Individual Scoring:
Armie Lewis 17 (6 assists, 3 steals, 5 rebounds), RJ Turner 13 (4 steals), Kendrell Thompson 11,
Jimmy Witten 8 (11 rebounds, 4 steals), Fulton Brisco 7 (4 steals), Christian Enriquez 5, Anthony Bilcic 4, Jordan Paultz 2, Steven Hartman 1

FALCON STATS	FG made	FG attempts	%
2's	22	47	46.8%
3's	2	16	12.5%
free throws	18	29	62.0%

SCORE BY QUARTER	1	2	3	4
Clear Lake	10	17	14	22
La Porte	11	13	22	17

LINESCORE	1	2	3	4	Final
Clear Lake	10	27	41	63	68
La Porte	11	24	46	63	70

REBOUNDS	LAKE	THEM
Offensive	11
Defensive	16