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Announcement
Louisville Seneca 55 - Clear Lake 53 (Paintsville Tournament Game 3)
Posted by Donald Wilkerson on
Dec 28 2005
at
04:00PM PST
Louisville Seneca 55 - Clear Lake 53
For the final day of pool play Clear Lake faced a worthy adversary in a quick bunch of leapers from last year's finalist Louisville Seneca High School (enrollment 1734, Seneca has been in the finals for the last three years). Too bad for Clear Lake as they fell in defeat to the Redhawks. It was an excellent basketball game that tested the preparedness of both teams.
Seneca is the second largest school in the tournament but one thing Texans may have learned from this trek is that size isn't everything. The small schools in Kentucky, at least the ones in this tournament, are much better teams that most small schools in many other states. Kentucky is basketball country and it is not unusual to see small schools competing with larger ones in basketball. If Paintsville High is any indicator, they actually compete quite nicely. It is also not unusual to see most of a team from a small school comprised largely of sophomores and some freshmen.
In the heart of coal country, Paintsville High has a rich heritage in basketball that stretches back to 1957. The school has had seven Division I-A players who have played major college ball and even more who have gotten other college scholarships. Their coach, alumni Mike Runyan, played professional baseball before returning home to coach basketball. Friendly, warm, hospitable people in the town with the quaintest southern accents make you feel welcome at every opportunity.
Clear Lake knew they would have to step it up a notch after coasting to two easy victories in the two previous outings against small schools. Jimmy Witten surely did. Witten had a team high 18 points, eleven in the first quarter, and six rebounds and a steal in the game. After scoring 20 points in the opening quarter, the Falcons started to show why they should be a contender in this tournament. Outstanding play from Witten, good solid team play, good shooting, and few mistakes encouraged the small but hearty Clear Lake fan base who traveled the 1120 miles to cheer their boys on (The Clear Lake crowd consisted of Armie Lewis's parents, Don and Lauretta, Andy Leveque's mom Nancy Quick, her son Hunter, and her mom, Leo Sarabia and me. Dad Jim Witten saw the second game but had to leave and unfortunately missed his son's impressive efforts).
The first quarter began and ended with Lake taking the lead and maintaining it. The quarter closed with Lake up 11-20.
In the second quarter with 6:40 remaining Justin Kurtz hit his second and last three to bring the score to 15-25, Lake up by 10. A steal and an uncontested layup drive down the lane by RJ Turner made it 15-27. With 3:38 left in the second period it was 20-31. A layup by Armie Lewis made it 22-35 at 2:29. Lake increased their lead to 16 but at the half it was 27-35 in Lake's favor.
In the third quarter Seneca chipped away and steadily reduced the margin. With 5:59 remaining in the quarter Justin got a very nice assist to Jimmy under the basket with a no look over the sholder pass from the air to bring the score to 29-39. Midway through the third quarter it was 35-40. With 35 seconds remaining in the quarter the game was tied at 40. Seneca went ahead 42-40 to end the quarter. The Falcons scored one basket by Ross Maha in the last four minutes of the third quarter and were outscored 17 to 7 in the quarter.
The fourth quarter was a seesaw with the game being tied three times and the lead changing several times as well. Forty seconds into the final quarter Kendrell Thompson got a rebound and putback to tie the score at 44. Then a free throw by Kendrell put Lake ahead 44-45. With 4:40 left RJ Turner made a layup in heavy traffic to make it 46-50. With 3:40 left Kendrell made a long overdue three from the left corner to put Lake up 48-53. With 2:14 remaining Seneca tied it again at 53 when Wittten got his fourth foul and sent them to the line. With 2 minutes remaining in the game the Falcons started a stall to get the final shot. A timeout and then another with 11 seconds remaining helped the Falcons plan their strategy. When play resumed Armie Lewis started his attack with less than six seconds showing on the clock by driving down the left side of the lane toward the baseline but had his pocket picked by a behind-the-back steal. A fifteen foot pass down court to a running Seneca guard and a layup at the buzzer dashed the hopes of the Falcons to go into the final day of competition. Final score was 55-53, a heartbreaker. The Falcons missed more free throws than they made and missed more than the other team shot. Clear Lake has been eliminated from the competition.
Seneca advanced to the final day playoff round to be defeated by a young but scrappy Paintsville team.
Individual Scoring:
Jimmy Witten 18 (6 rebounds), Kendrell Thompson 11,
Justin Kurtz 9, RJ Turner 6, Andy Leveque 3, Ross Maha 2, Armie Lewis 2, Fulton 2
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For the final day of pool play Clear Lake faced a worthy adversary in a quick bunch of leapers from last year's finalist Louisville Seneca High School (enrollment 1734, Seneca has been in the finals for the last three years). Too bad for Clear Lake as they fell in defeat to the Redhawks. It was an excellent basketball game that tested the preparedness of both teams.
Seneca is the second largest school in the tournament but one thing Texans may have learned from this trek is that size isn't everything. The small schools in Kentucky, at least the ones in this tournament, are much better teams that most small schools in many other states. Kentucky is basketball country and it is not unusual to see small schools competing with larger ones in basketball. If Paintsville High is any indicator, they actually compete quite nicely. It is also not unusual to see most of a team from a small school comprised largely of sophomores and some freshmen.
In the heart of coal country, Paintsville High has a rich heritage in basketball that stretches back to 1957. The school has had seven Division I-A players who have played major college ball and even more who have gotten other college scholarships. Their coach, alumni Mike Runyan, played professional baseball before returning home to coach basketball. Friendly, warm, hospitable people in the town with the quaintest southern accents make you feel welcome at every opportunity.
Clear Lake knew they would have to step it up a notch after coasting to two easy victories in the two previous outings against small schools. Jimmy Witten surely did. Witten had a team high 18 points, eleven in the first quarter, and six rebounds and a steal in the game. After scoring 20 points in the opening quarter, the Falcons started to show why they should be a contender in this tournament. Outstanding play from Witten, good solid team play, good shooting, and few mistakes encouraged the small but hearty Clear Lake fan base who traveled the 1120 miles to cheer their boys on (The Clear Lake crowd consisted of Armie Lewis's parents, Don and Lauretta, Andy Leveque's mom Nancy Quick, her son Hunter, and her mom, Leo Sarabia and me. Dad Jim Witten saw the second game but had to leave and unfortunately missed his son's impressive efforts).
The first quarter began and ended with Lake taking the lead and maintaining it. The quarter closed with Lake up 11-20.
In the second quarter with 6:40 remaining Justin Kurtz hit his second and last three to bring the score to 15-25, Lake up by 10. A steal and an uncontested layup drive down the lane by RJ Turner made it 15-27. With 3:38 left in the second period it was 20-31. A layup by Armie Lewis made it 22-35 at 2:29. Lake increased their lead to 16 but at the half it was 27-35 in Lake's favor.
In the third quarter Seneca chipped away and steadily reduced the margin. With 5:59 remaining in the quarter Justin got a very nice assist to Jimmy under the basket with a no look over the sholder pass from the air to bring the score to 29-39. Midway through the third quarter it was 35-40. With 35 seconds remaining in the quarter the game was tied at 40. Seneca went ahead 42-40 to end the quarter. The Falcons scored one basket by Ross Maha in the last four minutes of the third quarter and were outscored 17 to 7 in the quarter.
The fourth quarter was a seesaw with the game being tied three times and the lead changing several times as well. Forty seconds into the final quarter Kendrell Thompson got a rebound and putback to tie the score at 44. Then a free throw by Kendrell put Lake ahead 44-45. With 4:40 left RJ Turner made a layup in heavy traffic to make it 46-50. With 3:40 left Kendrell made a long overdue three from the left corner to put Lake up 48-53. With 2:14 remaining Seneca tied it again at 53 when Wittten got his fourth foul and sent them to the line. With 2 minutes remaining in the game the Falcons started a stall to get the final shot. A timeout and then another with 11 seconds remaining helped the Falcons plan their strategy. When play resumed Armie Lewis started his attack with less than six seconds showing on the clock by driving down the left side of the lane toward the baseline but had his pocket picked by a behind-the-back steal. A fifteen foot pass down court to a running Seneca guard and a layup at the buzzer dashed the hopes of the Falcons to go into the final day of competition. Final score was 55-53, a heartbreaker. The Falcons missed more free throws than they made and missed more than the other team shot. Clear Lake has been eliminated from the competition.
Seneca advanced to the final day playoff round to be defeated by a young but scrappy Paintsville team.
Individual Scoring:
Jimmy Witten 18 (6 rebounds), Kendrell Thompson 11,
Justin Kurtz 9, RJ Turner 6, Andy Leveque 3, Ross Maha 2, Armie Lewis 2, Fulton 2
|
FALCON STATS |
FG made |
FG attempts |
% |
|
2's |
17 |
43 |
40% |
|
3's |
3 |
14 |
21% |
|
free throws |
7 |
15 |
47% |
|
SCORE BY QUARTER |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
Clear Lake |
20 |
35 |
42 |
53 |
|
Louisville Seneca |
11 |
27 |
44 |
55 |
|
LINESCORE |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Final |
|
Clear Lake |
20 |
15 |
7 |
11 |
53 |
|
Louisville Seneca |
11 |
16 |
17 |
11 |
55 |
|
REBOUNDS |
US |
THEM |
|
Offensive |
9 |
|
|
Defensive |
16 |
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