Clear Lake Falconhoops

Oilers Slip by the Falcons 38-37 Start of District 24-5A play, Tuesday, January 4, 2005. The referees in the Clear Lake-Pearland game assumed everyone would want to get home as soon as possible to watch the Orange Bowl plus they themselves wanted to get home to watch the game. The best way to speed the game along is to not blow the whistle. So, very few fouls were to be called in the game. It was obvious from the outset. Early on, two fouls serious enough that the players almost stopped play in anticipation of a whistle went uncalled. Man, did they let them play. Numerous fouls on both sides which would have been called on any other night were not called. Unfortunately, the Falcons did not capitalize enough on the refs reluctance to blow the whistle. Pearland is usually among the top defensive teams in the greater Houston area (currently ranked 4th in defense). Combine that with poor shooting from the field for Clear Lake and refs who mostly watch rather than truly officiate and you have a slightly unusual basketball game. Pearland is bigger and quicker than Lake and it showed early in the game. At the halfway point of the first quarter, the score was 6-3 in favor of the Oilers. Lake scored 3 points in four minutes! With 3:40 remaining in the first, Armie hit a trey to tie it at 6 points. At the 3:06 mark, Scott Oswald stole the ball, made a long pass downcourt to the “G” man, Gordon Abner, who stuffed it in to put Lake ahead 8-6. Pearland then scored 8 unanswered points to end the quarter at 14-8. Armie’s trey and Gordon’s dunk were the only two successful baskets out of 16 attempts in the quarter, only partly due to effective shot blocking by Pearland. Early in the second quarter, Lake got out hustled and was not making their shots (4 of 11 for the quarter). The Oilers pulled ahead 20 to 10, then 23 to 12 when Mark Murphy made a chip shot from ten feet. At this point one would hope that Lake began to realize they could not score when they drove in close enough to make a lay-up but not yet. All the Falcons had to do was pull up and shoot from a few feet away. Gordon did this at the 1:55 mark to bring the score to 23-14 when Kendrell Thompson fed him a well-timed pass. A steal and a full court romp by Abner brought the score to 23-16. The first half closed at 25-16. 16 points is the lowest scoring first half for Clear Lake this season. For the half, the Falcons were 6 of 27 from the field! The Falcons came out rejuvenated from the halftime and played much better. Kendrell Thompson scored a layup with three players hanging on him (no foul) and then Scott Oswald hits a sneaky little layup to bring the score to 25-20 at the 6:40 mark in the 3rd. At the 5:03 mark Kendrell got a steal and drove for a basket to make it 25-23 after he hit his free throw. The quarter closed at 32-27 still in favor of the Oilers. The Falcons went 5 of 7 from two point range. Only three Pearland fouls were called in the quarter. None against Clear Lake. In the final period, Lake cranked it up a notch and went ahead 37-36 when Armie hit a trey with less than four minutes remaining. After a Pearland timeout, Armie stole the ball and at the 3 minute mark Lake went into their stall which ran a minute off the clock before a bad pass foiled their strategy. At 1:59 remaining in the game, Clear Lake had no second half fouls called on them. After a score by Pearland, Lake called two timeouts in 30 seconds. When play resumed, Scotty launches a three which was off the mark but Armie got the rebound under the basket on the baseline. He was nudged out of bounds by a defender. No foul was called. Out of bounds was called. Pearland's ball. Pearland then calls timeout with 9.8 seconds showing on the clock. Unable to inbound the ball, another timeout was called by Pearland. With Pearland in possession and with Lake behind 38-37, Lake's purposeful fouling could not get them to a 1 and 1 situation since seven fouls had to be committed. Final score was 38-37. (The Falcons shot two free throws in the second half). Some random thoughts and final reflections. At least eight college scouts were seen in the gym. The Falcons were missing three players: Jimmy Witten was moved to the JV to get more playing time (Witten had a very good game tonight on the JV level); Brandon Wynn will be out for eight weeks due to his ankle injury; and Justin Kurtz did not suit out because he had no face guard. It seems the one he was using had been borrowed and he had to return it but he had not gotten one of his own yet. It was a good basketball game but is this really what high school basketball has come to? For someone who loves high school basketball, it is difficult to accept that any other sporting event takes precedence over the game during the game. These young people work too hard at something they love to allow capricious attitudes from paid officials. Although I would be hard pressed to prove the refs' decision to speed the game along by not blowing the whistle, this is not the first time for this to happen in a Clear Lake game which conflicted with a major college bowl game. It should also be noted that, had a typical game been officiated, the game would have been over in time to watch the entire second half of the football game even if you lived 30 minutes away. It should also be noted that the RECORD button on a VCR/DVR is not that difficult to find. Obviously, I think the officials should be ashamed. With only a one point loss, the outcome of this game could easily have been affected by one of Lake's absent teammates. Good outside shooting from one of Lake's best three point shooters could have made a difference. Better rebounding and shot blocking from one of Lake's gifted athletes would certainly have made a difference. Who would believe the winner of the district championship might ultimately be determined by the absence of a face guard? The teenage brain is truly one of life's astonishing mysteries. Scoring for the Falcons: Gordon Abner 11, Armie Lewis 6, Kendrell Thompson 5, Lee Mazurek 4, Mark Murphy 4, Andy Leveque 3, Scott Oswald 2, Jordan Villarreal 2. Scoring by Quarter 8- 8-11-10 Us 14-11-11-06 Them 2’s: 12 of 33 (36%) 3’s: 3 of 14 (21%) Free throws: 4 of 6 (67%)