Clear Lake Falconhoops

Clear Lake 62- Dobie 53

Saturday night at Pasadena’s Stoney Phillips Field House the Clear Lake Falcons met the Dobie Longhorns in the Area round of the 2007 playoffs. Although the Falcons had twice beaten the unranked Horns earlier in the season, this contest was no sure thing for the fifth ranked Falcons . The Longhorns were a much improved team and they were coming off a high from their upset victory over Port Arthur Memorial in the earlier bi-district round.

Defeating Dobie three times in the same season is a tall order even for the talent laden Falcons. Combine that with the 35 point performance from Dobie point guard Warrem Webb in the P. A. Memorial game Thursday and it becomes quite apparent that this would be no gimme for the Falcons. Sure the Falcons have a much more talented team but sometimes it is not the more talented team that emerges victorious in high school basketball.

From the outset Clear Lake had control of the game. Half way through the first quarter it was 8-14, Lake up by 6. It was obvious early that the Falcons were mostly on track and Dobie did not quite have the horsepower to keep up with Lake but the scrappy Dobie squad should not be underestimated. At the end of the first quarter it was 15-21, Lake up by 6.

The determined Longhorns were never out of it and kept it close throughout a hard fought second quarter. Clear Lake went three and one half minutes before they scored their first basket in the quarter. It was 19-21 when Armie Lewis, who had a game high 22 points, finally made Lake’s first field goal of the quarter. From this point Lake extended their lead to 10 with two minutes remaining in the first half. With four seconds remaining in the half Kendrell Thompson casually launched one of his high arching signature shots from three point land and made his last basket of the game to make it 25-36, Lake’s largest lead of the half.

Half way through the third quarter it was 31-38, Lake by only 7 points. Two free throws by Armie, one by Jimmy Witten, and a three point basket by Armie put Lake up 13 before five points by Dobie made it 36-44 at the close of the quarter. Although Lake appeared to be in control, it was still anybody’s game and too early for the Clear Lake crowd to relax.

An initial three point basket in the first twenty seconds of the final quarter brought Dobie to within five, 39-44 but this would be as close as they would come. A couple of Lake turnovers then made it apparent Lake might be losing control but a couple of timely steals by Kendrell and Armie helped the crowd relax just a little as Lake went up 41-51 with just over four minutes remaining. After some time outs and only 2:53 remaining in the game, Dobie free throws brought the score to 48-53, still too close to call. Two free throws by Armie and two by Fulton made it 48-57. Another basket by Fulton and the second of two free throws by Armie put Lake ahead 48-60 with 1:26 remaining. Dobie never gave up but could not make up the difference. Final score was 53-62.

The Falcons had 18 steals in this game (average is 11.7 pg) but they missed a total of 12 free throws (average misses per game is 4.8). This is the most free throws missed in a single game all season. In the previous game against Dulles, Clear Lake had made 20 free throws in a row. What a contrast.

The Falcons face La Porte in the regional quarterfinals on Tuesday.

All Photos for this game are posted and can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops .

Individual Scoring:
Armie Lewis 22 (5 assists), Kendrell Thompson 12 (5 steals),  Fulton Brisco 11,
Jimmy Witten 7 (5 rebounds, 4 steals), Andrew Gorie 6, RJ Turner 4