Clear Lake Falconhoops

Clear Lake 56 – Christian Life Academy 50

In Game 2 of Day Two of the event, the Falcons faced the winner in the first round game, Christian Life Academy out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana (ranked 4^th in the state of La.). Since the other teams had played on the first day and Lake had not, Clear Lake played two games when the other teams played only one. In addition the rust that comes from not practicing for five days gave the Christian Life squad another obvious advantage. Not that they needed any. The weapons in their arsenal included multiple obvious Division I prospects.

Coaching and disciplined team ball would be the keys to the narrow victory over the highly ranked Louisiana squad. From observing Lake’s game earlier in the day, the CLA bunch saw clearly that if they could shut down Lake’s # 32, Kendrell Thompson (which they did), they could prevail. But they did not anticipate the methodical skill with which Clear Lake can confront and confound their opponents when they play well.

The game started with Armie Lewis stepping up to what would be an impressive showing. On assists from Kendrell, Armie hit two treys back to back to start things out right. That set the stage and inspired his teammates. The game was close throughout the first quarter with Lake maintaining a narrow lead. The quarter closed at 16-15, Lake by 1. Lake’s defense looked weak but our offense looked pretty good in the quarter. Lake went 6 of 14 from the field.

During the second quarter at the 6:25 mark, the game was tied (at 18) for the first of two times in the game. A basket by Fulton Brisco allowed Lake to regain the lead. A basket by RJ Turner, a layup and a free throw by Kendrell, and one of Christian Enriquez’s signature three’s brought the score to 28-23. Another layup by RJ Turner and a jumper from the corner by Cody Kinsey  finished out the quarter with Lake up 32-24. Jimmy Witten got a noticeably large dose of thrown elbows from CLA’s #21, David Ndoumba, throughout the game starting in the second quarter. This would become a significant factor as the game progressed. This was probably due to Witten’s superb play and the frustration that comes from #21’s inability to contain him at times.

In the third quarter Lake went 3 of 16 from the field but improved man-to-man defense helped contain the Crusaders from the bayous.Two key baskets and a free throw by Andrew Gorie maintained the Falcons slight lead throughout most of the quarter. CLA tied the game at 39 with 55 seconds remaining in the period before two free throws by Christian ended the quarter with Lake up by 2, 41-39. Lake was outscored 15 to 9 in the quarter. Considering the obvious talent of the CLA squad (two 6’7” forwards and two 6’6” forwards who could play), Lake must have outplayed someone on defense.

In the final period when CLA cranked up their defense, Lake trailed for the first four minutes of the quarter. The final quarter should be called The Armie Lewis Road Show. Lewis scored 12 of Lake’s 15 in the quarter to barely keep Lake ahead. Lewis scored all of the field goals for the team and 3 of the 6 free throws in the last quarter.  Armie hit a trey and Fulton Brisco made a free throw with 1:47 left to give Lake a narrow lead. With one minute remaining Lake was up by six, 52-46. CLA scored on a putback to narrow the lead to 4. Two free throws by Christian put Lake up by 6. With 22.2 seconds remaining the CLA coach received a technical foul which resulted in Lewis making both free throws. The final score was 56-50, a very good win against a talented team.

 Lots of hustle, two key steals by Kendrell and unselfish assists from his teammates enabled this win. Outstanding work on the boards by Jimmy Witten (7 rebounds, 3 assists) despite the elbow abuse 9and some negligence of the officials at times) made a noticeable difference as did excellent support off the bench.

Epilogue

Almost all of the teams in the National Division are ranked teams in their respective states (some nationally ranked). These two tournament games highlighted the fact that any one of the Lake players is capable of stepping up to make a major contribution which could make the difference between victory or defeat against a formidable opponent. Lake does not have the hand picked stars like most of the teams in the National Division of this tournament but they do have a well rounded, disciplined team who can play with the best of them.

Observations on the shot clock.

For many years California has used a 35 second shot clock in high school. The result of this is virtually no post play which seems to be disappearing anyway, much more penetration by the guards, a lot of mostly one-on-one basketball, i.e. less team ball and more “me” ball. Put another way, it looks more like AAU basketball. Although I have always been against a shot clock on the high school level, a 35 second clock seemed to make little difference. Only twice in two games did the shot clock or its buzzer affect the Falcons.

Individual Scoring:
Armie Lewis 18,
Fulton Brisco 7, Christian Enriquez 7, Jimmy Witten 6, RJ Turner 6, Kendrell Thompson 5, Cody Kinsey 2

FALCON STATS	FG made	FG attempts	%
2's	16	39	41.0%
3's	4	15	26.6%
free throws	12	16	75.0%

SCORE BY QUARTER	1	2	3	4
Clear Lake	16	32	41	56
Christian Life Academy	15	24	39	50

LINESCORE	1	2	3	4	Final
Clear Lake	16	16	9	15	56
Christian Life Academy	15	9	15	11	50

REBOUNDS	LAKE	THEM
Offensive	5
Defensive	13