Clear Lake Falconhoops

           A lot of teams claim to live and die by the three. There is no debating whether Clear Lake does. Shooting a horrid 17% from beyond the arc for the evening, Lake needed to look elsewhere for offense. If you were a casual fan watching tonight’s game you would instantly realize the intensity and animosity between the two teams. Matt McCollum was asked about how the rivalry affected the team.” It really helps motivate ourselves. We all wanted to beat Brook so bad. They talk so much trash. It just gets you pumped up.”           

The much anticipated game started with fireworks. Unfortunately they were from the Brook side of the ball. Clear Brook’s Aaron Miller stepped up to the challenge by hitting two big threes in the opening period. Clear Lake could never seem to contain the Wolverines outside shooting. After the 1^st quarter Brook was leading by a score of 12-6. 

          Clear Lake did not look ready to play and Clear Brook took advantage of that. The Wolverine’s De'Jon John played the game of his career, going on to score a game high 20 points. The Falcons had no answer for him or any of the Wolverines. Clear Brook entered halftime leading 30-16. The Falcons are no strangers to being down at the half, but the deficit was much larger than they were used to. Kyle Ashton was asked what they wanted to do different in the second half, “we wanted to play man defense, and stop making dumb mistakes.”           

This time Clear Lake was the team launching fireworks. The Falcons looked like a completely different team. Jared Miller got the defense going with three charges drawn. Lake was still having a trouble from the three point line though. Jacob Horton; usually the 3 point marksman slithered his way to the basket resulting in free throws. After being down by 14 points at half, Lake cut the deficit to four points by the end of the third quarter. The Kruger Krazies were ecstatic with help from the Clear Lake Flairs as Lake’s student section was the liveliest it had been all season.          

Team Captain Mark McCollum seemed determined to score at any cost. Mark grabbed numerous offensive rebounds resulting in lay-ups. The story of the fourth quarter was written by his brother, Matt. After being down by as much as 11 in the quarter, Matt lead his team back with a three point shot to cut the lead in half. The following possession Matt ran up the court and pulled up for another three and nailed it. The Lake crowd erupted with joy; Lake was within one basket of coming back. The Falcons stopped Brook and got the ball back with 3.4 seconds remaining. Mark McCollum received the ball took one dribble and shot a 16 foot jump shot that bounced off of a Brook player. Lake had one play to run to either win or tie the game being down by 2 points with 2.2 seconds remaining. The shot went up and missed but Kyle Ashton tipped it in as the buzzer went off. To say the crowd was ecstatic would be a gross understatement. 

          Clear Lake had just come off of an improbable double overtime win against Alvin last Friday. Could their overtime luck continue? Overtime began with a pair of swapped baskets by both teams. Clear Brook hit a pair of free throws to lead by 3 with 35 seconds to go. Matt McCollum had the game of his life and drilled a deep three to tie it up with 7 seconds remaining. Again Lake fought back and played like the team they knew they really were. All Lake needed to do was not let the Wolverines score. With 4.8 seconds remaining Clear Brook’s De'Jon John had other plans as he rushed up the court and shot a running three point shot with time winding down. He nailed it! The Brook fans rushed the floor and the Falcons could do nothing but watch.

This disappointing loss brings the Falcons district record to 4-3 (4^th place). Clear Lake starts the second round of district competition at Dickinson Friday with the hopes of turning around its season.

No action photos of this game are available. To view photos of previous games, go to  Current Season Photos   . Sometimes you can use the Browser's "BACK" or "BACK Arrow" to return to this website.

For the results of other district games, go to the 24-5A District Schedule and Scores Page.

Individual Scoring:

Mark McCollum 12 (7 rebounds, 3 assists)

Kyle Ashton 17 (5 rebounds, 3 assists)

Matt McCollum 14 (4 assists)

Jacob Horton 10

Nick Arrington 4 (2 steals)

Brick Pomeroy - ineligible 

Jackson Hardage 2

Jared Miller (4 rebounds, 3 charges taken)