Clear Lake Falconhoops

Clear Lake 56 - Pearland 51 

It is not unusual for the first game after the holidays to be less than impressive. It takes awhile for the boys to knock the rust off and get back into it. But Tuesday night two of Lake's teams in the main gym at Pearland played some of the ugliest basketball we have seen in a long time. The Freshman A team, playing against a noticeably inferior Pearland squad, played some really ugly basketball well beyond the first half before claiming a victory.

Pearland's teams are always strong defensively and their JV did put on an impressive performance throughout most of the game. Our Junior Varsity team came to the game with an 18-1 record but the reasons were not evident as they stunk up the gym for much of the first 21 minutes of the game. The score was 30-13 at the half with Lake trailing. Once our boys decided it was time to get serious they overcame a 20-something point deficit and made it a game.

After missing 5 of 6 free throws earlier, Will West stepped to the line with 6.7 seconds remaining in the game and calmly sunk two free throws to take the lead. Two more free throws from West sealed the victory. Quite an impressive comeback. Although my memory is not as good as it once was, I cannot remember any JV comeback to rival this one.

But was this a preview of what the varsity performance would be like? To say there was cause for concern among Lake fans is insufficient. Fortunately our Varsity did not suffer the "holiday rustiness" as much as our other teams (thanks to some tournament play north of Dallas).

In the Varsity matchup, the fans were treated to two diffferent games in one. Our Varsity dominated in the first quarter and held Pearland scoreless. WoW! With the score at 15-0 starting the second quarter, Lake went on to make the score 30-6 with less than three minutes remaining in the half before another Pearland timeout infused some determination into the Oilers. This led to a second, completely different game where the Oilers outscored the Falcons in all the remaining periods of the game.

Late in the game with Pearland trying hard to rally and stage a comeback and being successful at it, the tension was mounting. Could Lake hold on and claim the victory or would the Falcons let it slip away?

At a critical point in play what could best be described as the low point of the game came a call by one ref that defies logic and reason. Gabe Lavespere, wide open under the left side of the basket, received a pass for a layup. Before he could get the shot off a Pearland defender came crashing down on him from directly above. So Gabe will go to the free throw line and shoot two, right? Wrong. The ref called an offensive foul on Gabe! This will be remembered as among the worst calls in the history of Clear Lake basketball and that is really saying a lot. The video of this call will probably get posted on Youtube.

With about 1 1/2 minutes remaining Pearland got to within three and had the ball but could not close the deal. Despite shooting poorly in the paint, the Falcons clung to their lead and chalked it up as a victory due to some masterful ball handling down the stretch but Pearland surely made it exciting.

Action photos of this game should be posted by Thursday evening. To view game photos of this season's game, go to  http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops. Use the Browser's "BACK" or "BACK Arrow" to return to this website.

Individual scoring: 

Rob Lewis 13 (2 rebs, 3 assists, 1 steal,  2 CDs)

Alden Miles 12 (1 reb, 2 assists)

Connor Ruta 9 (1 reb, 2 assists, 2 steals) 

Gabe Lavespere 5 (11 rebs) 

Connor Train 5 (4 rebs, 1 assist)

Eddie Cooper 3 (1 assist)

Kris Henderson 3 (1 assist, 1 steal)

Trevor Arrington 2 (1 reb) 

Pace Richardson 2 (3 rebs, 2 steals)

Trever Kennedy 1 

Colton Krenek  1 (1 reb, 1 assist, 1 block)