Clear Lake Falconhoops

Clear Lake 63 - Amarillo 35

The Clear Lake Falcons posted their largest margin of victory this season when they flew by the Amarillo Sandies 63-35 in the Consolation Championship game of the 2007 Byron Johnston Holiday Classic Tournament. The Sandies were simply outclassed against the more impressive Falcons (and the Falcons did not have to bring their A game).

Amarillo could shoot the ball from outside for sure. Their two all district guards, Trevor Holloway (#24) and Brandt Matchett (#14, 12 points), along with honorable mention forward  Channing Wait(#12), had probably not met the kind of talent they faced from Clear Lake in awhile so they were mostly stifled. The Sandies big man, 6’7” Junior Cody Cadenhead (#52), had looked unstoppable in their previous victory in the tournament as he led the team in scoring. Effective scouting took care of that though. Cadenhead was totally nullified by Clear Lake’s defense and only scored one basket, a tribute to the Lake defense which still has some holes in it. Lake’s big men, Goree, Williams, and Anderson, slightly dominated on both ends of the court against the weaker team. 

Clear Lake’s depth shone once again as everyone scored and again the Falcons impressed everyone with their free throw shooting going 19 of 21 from the line. Lake sank 15 consecutive free throws. This makes two consecutive games where the Falcons have shot over 90% from the stripe (40 of 44)! Very impressive.

Overall, a confidence builder of a game and only slightly a skills polisher. 

The real championship game for the tournament was probably played on the first day of the tournament when Clear Lake faced El Paso Montwood - two of the best teams in the tourney but only one can advance on the winner’s side of the bracket. That’s the way it works in these tournaments. Montwood faces the host school Midland Bulldogs in the championship game Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. to determine who walks away with the first place trophy. Midland is playing better than when Clear Lake narrowly beat them in the Texas Invitational in November and they will be tough to beat on their home turf so it should be a good game. My money is on Montwood.

UPDATE: El Paso Montwood defeated Midland 51-36 in the championship game Saturday night.

Photos for this game can be found in the ALBUMS and at http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops200708  by January 2, 2008

Individual Scoring:

Andrew 12 (6 of 6 free throws, 4 steals), Kyle 12 (5 rebounds), Steve 10,

Kevin 6 (5 rebounds), Mark 6, Jason 5 (4 rebounds), Cody 5 (4 assists), Jay 3 (2 blocked shots), Brian 2, Jacob 2