Announcement
January 3, 2006
Tonight in the district 24-5A opener between the Pearland Oilers and the Clear Lake Falcons an unusual thing happened. The Oilers got 38 rebounds in the game; the Falcons got 11 but won the game. The rebounding was not surprising but to some the Falcon win was (the jumping jack Oilers are taller and have longer arms than the Falcons. This will be true for most of the teams the Falcons face this year in district play). For the Falcons to beat teams who will surely out-rebound them, the key is to play smart basketball with good ball control, accurate shooting from the field overall, making their free throws count, and getting as many steals as possible, in other words, controlling the tempo of the game. If you let down in any one aspect of the game, it will be especially tough to win because you will usually only get one shot at the basket before the other team gets the ball. Lead by Armie Lewis, tonight the Falcons pulled back the covers in the first round of district play just enough to show what they are capable of. Yes, they did only get 11 rebounds (one or two offensive rebounds depending on whose stats you believe), but they got 11 steals, hit 6 of 10 from three point land, and 14 of 21 from the free throw line. Armie Lewis went 7 for 7 from the charity stripe to lead all scorers with a game high 19 points. The closely contested game was tied four times and the lead changed five times. In the first quarter the Falcons went 1 of 6 from two point range but went 4 of 6 from three point land. Justin Kurtz hit two threes and Armie hit two as well. At the 1:20 mark with an assist from RJ Turner, Jon Gilmer drove to the basket to make it 10-11, Lake’s only two point basket of the period. Armie’s second trey brought it to 12-14, Lake up by two. A basket by the Oilers tied it at 14 to close the quarter. With 6:20 remaining in the second quarter the Oilers took the lead for the first time 19-18. Then Justin got the ball on the right wing and quickly flicked it in to Jon Gilmer to score underneath.19-20, Lake by 1. With the score 22-20 at 5 minutes remaining in the first half, speed demon Andy Leveque drove to the basket in heavy traffic to tie it at 22, the third tie of the game. The Oilers’ leading scorer in the game,Kendrick Thompson, not to be confused with the Falcons’ Kendrell Thompson, drained another trey to put Pearland back in the lead. With a lot of hard work in the trenches, Jimmy Witten laid it in to make it 25-24. Another hard earned basket by Witten put Lake ahead 25-26 with 2:25 left in the first half. After a successful free throw by Kendrell Thompson, Lake was up by two. The next time down the court Kendrell made an impressive swiveling spin toward the basket on one of his in-close, unstoppable moves and a last second dish off to Armie eagerly awaiting the ball to the left side of the hoop. After the basket and a free throw by Armie the score was 27-30, Lake by 3, with 1:27 left in the second quarter. Kendrell then nailed his only trey of the game to make it 29-33 with 50 seconds remaining. The half closed with Lake ahead 31-35. A productive 21 point quarter for Lake but only 4 defensive rebounds in the half and no offensive rebounds (this from a team that averages 26 rebounds per game). In the second half RJ Turner stole the ball and passed to Justin in the paint to score and make it 31-37. Almost halfway through the third quarter it was a two point ball game 35-37. A steal and a basket by Kendrell made it 36-39. With 2:20 remaining in the third period, RJ Turner, on a sweeping cross court drive from right to left, sliced around to the basket and made an underhanded layup to make it 38-42. With 1:20 showing on the clock a hard fought basket by Jon Gilmer on an assist from Jimmy Witten made it 38-44 before Pearland hit a quick three to narrow the gap. An impressive three point shot by Andy Leveque off the glass made it 41-47 to close the quarter with Lake ahead by 6. The fourth quarter opened with a basket by Andy, a free throw by Jimmy Witten and a really slick play by Andy on the wing with a pass in to Armie for the layup to made it 45-52. A Pearland fast break charge to the basket and an obvious two points was then spoiled by Andy when he took the charge and got knocked down (Leveque leads the team in charges taken). Plenty of smart basketball by Lake. With just under two minutes remaining in the intense game, Armie stole the ball, drove the length of the floor closely guarded by two Oiler defenders but scored the layup anyway (49-56 Lake). Then Andy took another charge to deny Pearland’s big man a basket in the paint. Pearland started intentionally fouling with 1:11 left and the score at 49-56. With 51 seconds remaining in the game and Lake in their stall offense, the Falcons worked the ball in to Jimmy Witten for an easy, open layup. Witten was massively fouled at the height of his jump and fell to the floor head first. Both players lay motionless as the hush fell over the crowd after the gasps subsided. Apparently unconscious for awhile, Witten was revived and helped off the court after almost eight minutes passed. The blood from the puncture in his head may have been from his opponent’s tooth. With 31 seconds remaining Lake was up by 10, 49-59. Final score was 51-62 despite the Falcons missing 5 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter. A good win from a team that some expected to finish in the bottom half of the standings in the district. (Smiley face goes here).
Individual Scoring:
Armie Lewis 19 (4 steals), Justin Kurtz 10
Andy Leveque 9, Kendrell Thompson 8, Jimmy Witten 6, Jon Gilmer 6, RJ Turner 4.
|
FALCON STATS |
FG made |
FG attempts |
% |
|
2's |
15 |
35 |
43% |
|
3's |
6 |
10 |
60% |
|
free throws |
14 |
21 |
0% |
|
SCORE BY QUARTER |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
Clear Lake |
14 |
35 |
47 |
62 |
|
Pearland |
14 |
31 |
41 |
51 |
|
LINESCORE |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Final |
|
Clear Lake |
14 |
21 |
12 |
15 |
62 |
|
Pearland |
14 |
17 |
10 |
10 |
51 |
|
REBOUNDS |
US |
THEM |
|
Offensive |
1 |
18 |
|
Defensive |
10 |
20 |
