Clear Lake Falconhoops

Clear Lake 52 – Deer Park 49 (OT)  

What an exciting, close game between two well balanced teams! The game was tied at the end of each of the four quarters, a very rare occurrence. The lead changed ten times in regulation play and the game was tied fourteen times.

Clear Lake was coming off an impressive win over previously undefeated Elkins in the championship game of the CCISD tournament and Deer Park was trying to bounce back from a hard fought contest with Connally, the state ranked (7^th) 4A powerhouse from Pflugerville in the tournament. Those who watched the Deer Park team play this past weekend knew the game with Clear Lake would be a good one.   

As is almost always the case when we play long-time rival Deer Park in the first game after the tournament, the Falcons did not look like the same team who walked away with the first place trophy three days earlier. Write it off as just another proof that there is no explaining the teenage brain. Or maybe it is the phase of the moon. Or maybe it was because Clear Lake rose to number 17 in the state rankings immediately after the victory over Elkins and the boys let it go to their heads. Doubtful. Anyway, it was obvious that the Lake squad was not playing up to their potential but do not lose sight of the fact that Deer Park has a very good basketball team.   

It was a thrilling game with Lake’s Cody Kinsey leading all scorers with 15 points, 7 of 8 free throws, and four steals. Lake’s scoring was spread across the team, always a pleasing sign (46% of Lake’s scoring came from the bench, a fact that will become increasingly important as the season progresses).   

Clear Lake has a better team than Deer Park but in this matchup Lake got outplayed in most aspects of the game especially offensive rebounding. By my count Deer Park got 20 offensive rebounds! Deer Park also played better defense than Lake which yielded 26 Lake turnovers. 26! Deer Park’s shooting percentage from the field was also much better than Lake’s. 

How do you win a game where you allow twenty offensive boards and you turn the ball over twenty-six times? Well, as a minimum you have to make your free throws. And boy did Lake make some free throws! The Falcons went 24 of 27 from the line versus 6 of 10 for the Deer. That was the difference in the thrilling game. It took overtime for the Falcons to come out with a three point victory and it could have gone either way with just a couple of different bounces of the ball.

Photos for this game can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops200708  by Thursday noon, Dec 6.

Individual Scoring:

Cody 15 (8 rebounds, 7 of 8 free throws), Steven 14,

Andrew 7, Jay 4, Kyle 4, Mark 4, Jason 2, Brian 2

FALCON STATS	FG made	FG attempts	%
2's	8	31	25.8%
3's	4	15	26.7%
free throws	24	27	88.9%

SCORE BY QUARTER	1	2	3	4	OT
Clear Lake	13	21	37	43	52
Deer Park	13	21	37	43	49

LINESCORE	1	2	3	4	OT
Clear Lake	13	8	16	7	9
Deer Park	13	8	16	7	6

REBOUNDS	LAKE	Deer Park
Offensive	10	20
Defensive	15	13

Photos for this game can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops200708  by Monday, December 3 at 7 p.m.

Individual Scoring:

Andrew 13, Kyle 12 (11 rebounds), Cody 11,

Mark 9, Steven 6, Jay 6 (7 rebounds, 3 blocked shots), Brian 4, Jacob 3, Jason 2

FALCON STATS	FG made	FG attempts	%
2's	18	45	40%
3's	4	12	33.3%
free throws	18	22	81.8%

SCORE BY QUARTER	1	2	3	4
Clear Lake	18	28	44	66
Connally	10	19	28	47

LINESCORE	1	2	3	4	Final
Clear Lake	18	10	16	22	66
Connally	10	9	9	19	47

REBOUNDS	LAKE	THEM
Offensive	9	9
Defensive	25	14

Photos for this game can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops200708 by Sunday at 6 p.m.

Individual Scoring:

Andrew 18 (8 of 8), Jay 10 (8 rebounds),

Jacob 9 (3 of 4), Steve 8, Kyle 8, Mark 6 (5 steals, 4 assists), Brian 5, Cody 5 (4 assists), Jason 4 (4 assists), Kevin 2.

FALCON STATS	FG made	FG attempts	%
2's	27	52	51.9%
3's	3	11	27.3%
free throws	10	15	67.6%

SCORE BY QUARTER	1	2	3	4
Clear Lake	15	29	53	73
Hallsville	12	21	33	48

LINESCORE	1	2	3	4	Final
Clear Lake	15	14	24	20	73
Hallsville	12	9	12	15	48

REBOUNDS	LAKE	THEM
Offensive	10	4*
Defensive	23	15*

* unconfirmed

 Clear Lake 60 - Elkins 49 

The fans certainly got their money’s worth in the championship game of the oldest basketball tournament in the state of Texas Saturday afternoon. With undefeated Elkins’s win over #3 state ranked Desoto earlier in the tournament, the Knights were favored to win the Gold Division Championship.  

In the Dobie scrimmage against Elkins November 3, Clear Lake found themselves down 16-2 almost immediately. No matter what the Falcons tried to do, nothing seemed to work early in the scrimmage. But the scrappy Falcons clawed their way to only a 7 point deficit by the end of the three quarter scrimmage.  

Perhaps this was in the boys’ minds when the unranked Falcons met the highly ranked Knights in the championship game. The Falcon squad was not intimidated and seemed to translate their scrimmage experience against Elkins to mean we will not let them get ahead. The Falcons led almost the entire game by a very slim margin. The game was tied four times and Elkins’ only lead was by one point after the first quarter. 

The game was tied three times in the first quarter and with 2:32 remaining in the quarter Elkins went up 11-9 with 6 of the Knights points from free throws. At the 1:45 mark Cody Kinsey broke the tie at 11 when he nailed a trey on an assist from Nick Arrington. Another trey by Cody just before the buzzer to end the quarter made it 11-17, Lake by 6.  

In the second quarter baskets by Steven Hartman and Andrew Gorie made it 11-21 as small smiles on some Lake fans began to appear. An Elkins basket was countered by another basket by Cody to make it 13-23 before a run by Elkins put them up 24-23 with five of their points coming off free throws. A put-back by Andrew made it 24-25 right at the end of the first half. The foul count was 3 (Elkins)-8 (Lake) in the first half.  

With just over a minute gone in the second half Cody nailed a trey from the left wing and Nick nailed one from the right wing to make it 24-31. Several baskets by Elkins tightened the noose and with just over 2:10 remaining in the third quarter Elkins retook the lead 35-34 before a trey by Cody made it 35-37. With 40 seconds left in the third quarter Elkins coach Albert Thomas was assessed a technical foul from justifiably complaining about a no call on their end of the court. After one successful free throw by Cody, Mark McCollum nailed a three pointer from the right corner just at the buzzer to make it 35-41, Lake up by 6 going into the home stretch.  

After three exciting quarters of basketball everyone knew that with Elkins dominance of the boards (14 Elkins offensive rebounds to 4 for Lake), they were more than able to step it up to overcome a meager 6 point difference so the tension was still high. As the final period opened two free throws by Mark and two very key baskets by Brian Campbell in the first minute and twenty seconds widened Lake’s lead to 35-47, the largest lead of the game. Looking good. But then 4 consecutive baskets from the field gave 10 unanswered points to Elkins to make it 45-47 at the mid-point in the final quarter.  

On his way to another outstanding game, Cody Kinsey then sank his fifth three pointer of the day to make it 45-50. Elkins made two free throws and Cody made two free throws. Elkins made a basket and with just under two minutes remaining, Andrew made a basket and then got an outstanding steal to give Lake the ball. With 1:03 remaining in the game Cody calmly sank two free throws to round out his game high 20 points and make it 47-56. Elkins quickly scored before Andrew made another basket and then took a charge to give us the ball back with 38 seconds remaining. A final basket by Andrew brought the exciting game to a close with the final score of 49-60. The game was much closer than the score indicates. The jubilant Clear Lake Falcons had just become the 2007 Gold Division Champions.  

Reflections

When the season started, this year’s squad believed they were as good or better than last year’s Regional finalist team. There had to be many doubters in the crowd but after witnessing the level of Falcon play in the Klein Collins game, both Fort Bend Marshall games, and this win over undefeated Elkins, there are those seasoned fans who now believe this team may be even better than last year’s. I have to agree. When a Lake team plays this well, makes 50% of their three point shots (Cody was 5 of 6), shoots over 50% from the field, and hits over 83% of their free throws for three consecutive games, that is impressive Clear Lake basketball.  

This season is one third over. If everyone remains healthy, considering how much progress has been made so far and expecting continued improvement, it is not at all unrealistic to envision this dynamic team playing in the regional finals before making the trek to Austin.

 Photos for this game are now available at http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops200708  

Individual Scoring:

Cody 20 (6 assists, 4 steals), Andrew 15 (4 steals),

Steven 5 (4 assists), Nick 5, Mark 5 (6 rebounds), Brian 4, Jay 4 (3 blocked shots), Jason 2

FALCON STATS	FG made	FG attempts	%
2's	14	27	51.9%
3's	7	14	50.0%
free throws	11	13	84.6%

SCORE BY QUARTER	1	2	3	4
Clear Lake	17	25	41	60
Elkins	11	24	35	49

LINESCORE	1	2	3	4	Final
Clear Lake	17	8	16	19	60
Elkins	11	13	11	14	49

REBOUNDS	LAKE	THEM
Offensive	4	14
Defensive	18	11

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

Individual Scoring:

Cody 25 (5 steals, 5 of 6 3's, 8 of 8 free throws!!!),

Jay 11, Mark 10,

Steven 8, Jacob 8, Brian 6, Nick 4, Jason 3, Kyle 2, Andrew 1

FALCON STATS	FG made	FG attempts	%
2's	11	33	33.3%
3's	7	14	50.0%
free throws	36	41	87.8%

SCORE BY QUARTER	1	2	3	4
Clear Lake	12	29	46	79
Sterling	3	23	38	64

LINESCORE	1	2	3	4	Final
Clear Lake	12	17	17	33	79
Sterling	3	20	15	26	64

REBOUNDS	LAKE	THEM
Offensive	6	9*
Defensive	10	10*

 

* not yet confirmed