Clear Lake Falconhoops

 Clear Lake 60 - Elkins 49 

The fans certainly got their money’s worth in the championship game of the oldest basketball tournament in the state of Texas Saturday afternoon. With undefeated Elkins’s win over #3 state ranked Desoto earlier in the tournament, the Knights were favored to win the Gold Division Championship.  

In the Dobie scrimmage against Elkins November 3, Clear Lake found themselves down 16-2 almost immediately. No matter what the Falcons tried to do, nothing seemed to work early in the scrimmage. But the scrappy Falcons clawed their way to only a 7 point deficit by the end of the three quarter scrimmage.  

Perhaps this was in the boys’ minds when the unranked Falcons met the highly ranked Knights in the championship game. The Falcon squad was not intimidated and seemed to translate their scrimmage experience against Elkins to mean we will not let them get ahead. The Falcons led almost the entire game by a very slim margin. The game was tied four times and Elkins’ only lead was by one point after the first quarter. 

The game was tied three times in the first quarter and with 2:32 remaining in the quarter Elkins went up 11-9 with 6 of the Knights points from free throws. At the 1:45 mark Cody Kinsey broke the tie at 11 when he nailed a trey on an assist from Nick Arrington. Another trey by Cody just before the buzzer to end the quarter made it 11-17, Lake by 6.  

In the second quarter baskets by Steven Hartman and Andrew Gorie made it 11-21 as small smiles on some Lake fans began to appear. An Elkins basket was countered by another basket by Cody to make it 13-23 before a run by Elkins put them up 24-23 with five of their points coming off free throws. A put-back by Andrew made it 24-25 right at the end of the first half. The foul count was 3 (Elkins)-8 (Lake) in the first half.  

With just over a minute gone in the second half Cody nailed a trey from the left wing and Nick nailed one from the right wing to make it 24-31. Several baskets by Elkins tightened the noose and with just over 2:10 remaining in the third quarter Elkins retook the lead 35-34 before a trey by Cody made it 35-37. With 40 seconds left in the third quarter Elkins coach Albert Thomas was assessed a technical foul from justifiably complaining about a no call on their end of the court. After one successful free throw by Cody, Mark McCollum nailed a three pointer from the right corner just at the buzzer to make it 35-41, Lake up by 6 going into the home stretch.  

After three exciting quarters of basketball everyone knew that with Elkins dominance of the boards (14 Elkins offensive rebounds to 4 for Lake), they were more than able to step it up to overcome a meager 6 point difference so the tension was still high. As the final period opened two free throws by Mark and two very key baskets by Brian Campbell in the first minute and twenty seconds widened Lake’s lead to 35-47, the largest lead of the game. Looking good. But then 4 consecutive baskets from the field gave 10 unanswered points to Elkins to make it 45-47 at the mid-point in the final quarter.  

On his way to another outstanding game, Cody Kinsey then sank his fifth three pointer of the day to make it 45-50. Elkins made two free throws and Cody made two free throws. Elkins made a basket and with just under two minutes remaining, Andrew made a basket and then got an outstanding steal to give Lake the ball. With 1:03 remaining in the game Cody calmly sank two free throws to round out his game high 20 points and make it 47-56. Elkins quickly scored before Andrew made another basket and then took a charge to give us the ball back with 38 seconds remaining. A final basket by Andrew brought the exciting game to a close with the final score of 49-60. The game was much closer than the score indicates. The jubilant Clear Lake Falcons had just become the 2007 Gold Division Champions.  

Reflections

When the season started, this year’s squad believed they were as good or better than last year’s Regional finalist team. There had to be many doubters in the crowd but after witnessing the level of Falcon play in the Klein Collins game, both Fort Bend Marshall games, and this win over undefeated Elkins, there are those seasoned fans who now believe this team may be even better than last year’s. I have to agree. When a Lake team plays this well, makes 50% of their three point shots (Cody was 5 of 6), shoots over 50% from the field, and hits over 83% of their free throws for three consecutive games, that is impressive Clear Lake basketball.  

This season is one third over. If everyone remains healthy, considering how much progress has been made so far and expecting continued improvement, it is not at all unrealistic to envision this dynamic team playing in the regional finals before making the trek to Austin.

 Photos for this game are now available at http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops200708  

Individual Scoring:

Cody 20 (6 assists, 4 steals), Andrew 15 (4 steals),

Steven 5 (4 assists), Nick 5, Mark 5 (6 rebounds), Brian 4, Jay 4 (3 blocked shots), Jason 2