Clear Lake Falconhoops

Playoff Information

Who makes the playoffs?

In Texas public high school basketball, the top four varsity teams in each 6A district advance to the playoffs. This is also true for 5A and 4A. For the years when the number of teams allowed to advance to the playoffs in 6A changed, see below.

Who plays whom in the first round of playoffs?

Within each region in the first round of 6A play (bi-district), adjacent districts play each other. For example, District 23-6A teams play District 24-6A teams.The first place team plays the fourth place team. The second and third place teams in a district are paired with the third and second place teams in the adjacent district. For example, District 24 second place finisher plays District 23 third place finisher. For every round of the playoffs, only the winners advance to the next round.

What is the order of playoff games and where are they played?

Within each region the order of each round of the playoffs is as follows: bi-district (32 teams), area (16 teams), regional quarterfinals (8 teams), regional semifinals (4 teams), and regional finals (2 teams). It is a misnomer to call these  "state playoffs". They are regional playoffs held within each of the four regions. For boys the playoffs occur during the last week in February and the first week in March (Girls schedule is one week ahead of boys).

The first three playoffs: bi-district, area, and regional quarterfinals, are played at a time and a neutral site determined by both head coaches for the teams involved. For 6A Boys basketball the regional semifinals and finals are held at the Berry Center in Cypress, Texas. (see the Directions to schools page for directions on how to get to the Berry Center or any school where Clear Lake might play in a playoff game).

Explain classification and conference

In Texas there are six classifications (properly, but not commonly referred to as Conferences) for public high schools based on enrollment, Class A (smallest) through 6A (largest) (6A started in  2014-15).There are four geographic Regions in the state. Each region is divided into eight districts (some exceptions exist for Class A). The regional boundaries vary for each classification so a 6A region would be different from a 5A region due to the location of the schools. In fact, the regions often vary by sport also.

In 6A football there are "division"  designations where school are divided into 2 divisions in the playoffs but this has not yet been applied to 6A basketball. 

Who goes to the state tournament and where and when is it?

For each of the four regions in each classification (conference),  until 2015 the winner advanced to Austin for the state tournament* which was played on The University of Texas campus at the Frank Erwin Center (aka The Drum). Starting in 2015 the games were moved to San Antonio to the Alamodome. The Boys state tournament is held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the second weekend in March. 6A semifinals begin on Friday afternoon at 3pm. Make your hotel reservations early.

 What does the regional playoff bracket look like for our region?

The following is the link to the playoff bracket for 6A Regions 1 and 3. This shows which districts will vie against each other based on final position in their district. Final district position is designated by: W=winner, R=runnerup, T=third, and F=fourth on the bracket. The right side of the bracket is Region III. Venue for the regional playoffs might vary from year to year.

 http://www.uiltexas.org/basketball/playoff-brackets/boys/6A/1-3

*For playoff purposes the UIL uses a large division and a small division within Class A for basketball. The large schools use two divisions for football playoffs.

prior to 1989 - only district winner advanced to playoffs

1989 - top two teams in district advance to playoffs 

1993 - third team in district added to playoffs

2007 - top four teams in district advance to playoffs

2014-15 - UIL went to 6 conferences 

 Clear Lake 59 – Clear Creek 54 

YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS IF YOU EXPECT TO WIN A CLOSE BALL GAME. The Clear Creek Wildcats proved that again Friday night at George Carlisle Field House when they were defeated by the Clear Lake Falcons 59-54 in a hard fought battle between the long time rivals. Creek went 5 of 14 from the line in the fourth quarter to lose the game after leading by as much as 12 for almost three periods.  

Of course it doesn’t help when your leading scorer is missing from the lineup. Creek’s 6’6” guard, Logan Lancon, suffering from a shoulder separation, did not participate. Lancon, looking forward to a full ride at TCU, was advised by TCU to go ahead with the surgery before the season ended so his high school career has ended.  

Some people believe the Wildcats play better when they do not rely on Lancon and considering how the Falcons had been playing lately and how well the Wildcats played against them in the first round, the game and the struggle to make the playoffs for Lake was up for grabs. 

At the half the score was 30-20 with Creek up by 10 but the Wildcats had failed to watch channel 55’s High School Sports Live two weeks earlier. Had they watched they might have known to be better prepared to deal with “Sparky” Hartman. In the third quarter alone, by my numbers, Lake’s guard, Steve Hartman, had 8 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 rebounds as he took over the game and dazzled the crowd one more time. The speedster sparked his team as they edged closer to overtaking the lead. Hartman tied the game at 34 with just under three minutes remaining in the third quarter and Jacob Horton, on an assist from Steve, nailed his third rainbow trey, to put Lake ahead for the first time 34-37 with 1:35 remaining in the third quarter. Although Creek would keep it close, Lake would not relinquish the lead from this point despite a determined Creek effort. With 50 seconds left in the third quarter Hartman fed Mark McCollum for a lay-in to make it 36-39. On the last shot at the end of the quarter Jacob nailed his fourth and final three pointer to make it 36-42. 

The Falcons outscored the Wildcats by 20 points in the nine minute span from halftime to one minute into the fourth period to lead 36-46. How? With an excellent team effort. Not to mention the truly impressive play of Sparky Hartman, who finished with a team high 14 points, the incredible speed of Brian Campbell, the beauty of Jacob Horton’s three point shot, solid play from Mark McCollum, and Jay Williams, as well as impressive teamwork all around.

At the 5:56 mark of the final quarter Brian Campbell blew by the defender to score from the left side of the basket and put Lake up 38-50. In the next two minutes Creek outscored Lake 8 to 4. With the score at 46-54 and over four minutes showing on the clock Lake spread the floor and started to run the clock. Good Wildcat defense combined with some late desperation fouling in the fourth quarter and several Falcon fourth quarter turnovers allowed Creek to narrow the score to 52-56 with 35 seconds remaining despite solid free throw shooting by Clear Lake's Cody Kinsey, the second leading free throw shooter in the region. The final score was 54-59, Lake by 5.

With this win Clear Lake has made the playoffs. A look at the playoff picture that will make your head hurt is coming up.

By the way, I hope these other coaches never teach their players you do not have to foul only the man with the ball (especially when he is almost the best free throw shooter in this part of Texas). 

Photos for this game can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops200708  by Sunday evening

Individual Scoring:

Steve Hartman 14 (6 rebounds, 5 assists, TBD steals-at least five), Jacob Horton 12 (4 of 7 treys), Jay Williams 10,

Cody Kinsey 7 (7 of 9 free throws), Mark McCollum 5, Brian Campbell 4, Jason Hollis 2, Kevin Anderson 2, Andrew Gorie 2

Today's featured video is from the Clear Brook game on January 25, 2008. It features Cody Kinsey.

Click on the camera icon.

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Videos courtesy of Kyle Snow

 Under Revision -Obsolete

Each district has its own method of deciding final district standings at the end of the regular season. Some use a coin toss. Some use a playoff game. In our district (24-5A) it is more involved (also better) and emphasizes team performance throughout district play. This explanation is based on my understanding of how it is done in our district. This approach is used if 2, 3, or 4 teams are tied.

There are five levels of determinants to break a tie. Usually the tie is broken after the first or second level.

1. Head to Head - The first determinant is based on who beat whom in district play among the tied teams. If there is still a tie, then move to the next lower level determinant.

2. Power Rating - The next determinant is a point system assigned based on who beat whom for every game in district play. Based on the final season standings, beating a first place team is assigned 8 points (the number of teams in the district) all the way down to beating a last place team is 1 point. If there is still a tie, then move to the next determinant.

Example: Teams A and B have tied for first place and have split their two games. Teams A and B would look at the other district teams they have beaten and add the points assigned to each team to determine their power rating. The team with the higher power rating would be seeded as the higher team in the playoff bracket. 

 3. Road Win Point Addition - 1 extra point is assigned for winning on the road for each game. If there is still a tie, then move to the next determinant.

4. Margin of Victory with a 10 Point Cap . - This determinant is a based on scores and the point differential between two tied teams. If there is still a tie, then move to the last determinant.

For example, if Lake and Creek are still tied after the three higher determinants, then the scores of the two games are used. If Creek beat Lake by 6 points, then Creek gets 6 points assigned. If Lake beat Creek by 9 points, then Lake is assigned 9 points and Lake would win the tie. Note a maximum of 10 points can be garnered on this level so winning by 16 points only gets a team 10 points assigned.

5. Margin of Victory with a 15 point cap. -  The final level of determinant is based on scores and the margin of victory vs. all district teams with a 15 point cap on each game.

Example: Team A's margin of victory vs all teams = 68

                Team B's margin of victory vs. all teams = 86

Team B would be the higher seed.

This approach eliminates the need for a coin toss, allows district play to begin in January, and requires no days set aside for tie-breakers.

Texas is divided into 4 UIL regions: I, II, III, and IV.
Each Region has 8 districts.
Region III is District 17 5A through District 24 5A.

REGION III 5A Basketball

District 17-5A
Katy
Cinco Ranch
Mayde Creek
Morton Ranch
Seven Lakes
Katy Taylor

District 18-5A
Alief Elsik
Alief Hastings
Alief Taylor
Memorial
Northbrook
Spring Woods
Strake Jesuit

 District 19-5A 
Aldine
Eisenhower
MacArthur
Memorial
Nimitz
Humble
Atascosita
Kingwood

District 20-5A
Bellaire
Chavez
Lamar
Madison
Milby
Sam Houston
Westbury
Westside 

 District 21-5A
Baytown Lee
Baytown Sterling
Beaumont Westbrook
Channelview
North Shore
Port Arthur Memorial

District 22-5A
Deer Park
Pasadena Dobie
Galena Park North Shore
LaPorte
Pasadena
Pasadena Sam Rayburn
Pearland 
South Houston 
Pasadena Memorial

District 23-5A (Fort Bend Schools)
Clements
Dulles
Elkins
FB Austin
Hightower
Kempner
Willowridge
FB Bush
FB Marshall
FB Travis

District 24-5A
Alvin
Brazoswood
Clear Brook
Clear Creek
Clear Lake
Clear Springs
Dickinson
Galveston Ball