Clear Lake Falconhoops

The 48 boys teams in the tournament were bracketed into two Divisions. Division 1 in which Clear Lake was placed was comprised of teams considered to be among the 24 best teams entered. Among these teams were 10 state ranked teams in either Texas or Louisiana. If a team is assigned to the upper division, this greatly reduces the chances of coming away even close to being a bracket winner for teams not loaded with already developed talent. Separating all the better teams into one division is done by the tournament administrators to improve the caliber of the games in both divisions. 

There are significant disadvantages to playing in such tournaments especially when a team's coach is not consulted about which division he feels his team should be assigned. When a team has lost most of their players due to graduation and may not be loaded with returning talent, the preseason expectations of a team by outside onlookers are often disproportionately based on last season's performance and the legacy of the school's basketball program rather than regard for current talent on the team. In other words, very strong basketball schools are expected to have very strong teams again this year. Many coaches, especially large school coaches with unranked teams and few returning lettermen, will knowingly avoid tournaments such as this because of the high probability of finishing close to the bottom of the pile and the detrimental effects this can have on a team early in the season when getting a few wins under their belt goes a long way in building the confidence of a team. Since this was the first year the tournament has been structured this way, it was a surprise to most of the coaches.

West Monroe 44 - Clear Lake 43 

In pool play on day 1 Clear Lake faced 10th ranked West Monroe, Louisiana, a young but very quick team, and lost a close game in the last 9 seconds because of a questionable call that put Lake's opponent at the free throw line to win. This had been preceded seconds earlier by a glaringly bad charging call on Lake's Steve Hartman. Clear Lake committed 21 turnovers in the game.

Klein Collins 56 - Clear Lake 53

In the second game of pool play Clear Lake faced Klein Collins. KC is ranked second or third in several state polls and first in the Greater Houston region. With 10 returning  lettermen, seven of which started 8 games or more last season, Collins was the heavy favorite to win the Division 1 Gold bracket (they did by defeating Cypress Springs, also a ranked team, in the finals by 7 points).

In the Clear Lake - Klein Collins game, fans got to witness one of the best Clear Lake games they will see this year. The underdog Falcons were mentally prepared and rose to the challenge. They outplayed and outscored the KC bunch for three very impressive quarters of Grade A+ basketball. Considering it was only their third game of the season, the Lake squad played truly amazing basketball and was up 41-28 at the end of the third quarter.  

But the game is four quarters long. Trying to hold KC's Gonzaga-bound guard Demitri Goodson(#3), Derek Craig (#33, 12 of his 14 points in the 4th quarter), and the talent laden KC Tigers down for four quarters is a task few can accomplish. KC scored as many points in the final quarter as in the previous three to win in the last minute. Goodson also proved to be even more unstoppable against Cy Springs in the finals so Lake's Steve Hartman and Brian Campbell should be proud of their accomplishment. The entire Lake squad should be very pleased about how well they played in most of the game.

In chess and basketball the best way to get better is to play someone who is better than you. There are many immeasurable benefits that come from a game like this for Clear Lake but it still gets marked as a loss. Fans watching the way the Clear Lake squad played their hearts out could not help but be proud of the scrappy Falcons. They are going to be really fun to watch this season.

Clear Lake 57 - Midland 56

Fort Bend Marshall 67 - Clear Lake 65

Clear Brook 56 - Clear Lake 45

Clear Lake came away from the tournament with 1 win and 4 losses. Lake's season record is 2-4.

Photos for this game can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops200708 within a few days

Individual Scoring:

Jacob 16, Mark 15 (4 rebs, 4 assists), Steven 14,

Jay 9, Brian 7, Andrew 4

Photos for this game can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops200708 in a couple of days

Individual Scoring:

Cody 13, Nick 11,

Andrew 6, Jay 4, Kyle 4, Mark 4 (5 rebounds), Steven 2 (5 assists)

Photos for this game can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/falconhoops200708 within a few days

Individual Scoring:

Steven 13 (5 steals), Andrew 13 (6 rebs),

Cody 9, Mark 6, Jason 5, Jacob 5, Jay 3, Nick 2 (4 assists), Kyle 1 (5 rebs)

Clear Lake 90 - Fort Bend Marshall 70 

Don’t let the final score fool you. The Clear Lake - Fort Bend Marshall game was a close, exciting ball game in the Marshall gym Tuesday night. Those aware of these teams’ prior encounter in the recent Texas Invitational Tournament expected a close, hard fought contest and that is what they saw.

In the previous match-up Marshall prevailed in the waning seconds to eek out a 67-65 victory. So the Clear Lake squad knew they had their work cut out for them. To say they were prepared is an understatement. You could see it in their eyes. Some could even see it in the pre-game warm-up. But in high school basketball you never know. To say the Falcons rose to the challenge in an intense contest is also an understatement. But it is doubtful that anyone expected the Falcons to score 33 points in the fourth quarter.  

It is always a treat for fans to witness two superb teams, led by outstanding coaches, go at it. This was no exception. It was a one or two point game at the end of each of the first three quarters. They do not get any closer. The game was tied nine times. With six minutes remaining in the game, it was knotted at 59 and was definitely anybody’s ball game.  

The foul count was very heavy against Marshall in the second half due to their tendency to foul a lot and to let their mouths and devious actions get them into trouble. Two technical fouls were assessed to them in the game. Through the first three quarters, the Falcons scored 15 points by shooting 15 of 20 from the charity stripe.  

With the fourth quarter intensity cranked up a notch and 6:03 remaining in the game, Marshall hit a long three pointer to tie the game at 59. Then a basket by Jay Williams made it 59-61 for Lake to take the lead. Two free throws by Jason Hollis made it 59-63 with 4:46 remaining in the game. By this point Lake played good, clever team basketball, made almost no mistakes, worked very well together, and had more stamina than their opposition so they began to increase their lead. A trey at 4:05 by Mark McCollum made it 59-66 for Lake’s biggest lead up to this point in the game. Baskets by Cody Kinsey, Brian Campbell, and Andrew Gorie made it 61-72 before another long three by Marshall narrowed the gap.  Excellent ball handling, timely offensive rebounds, and smart defense allowed the Falcons to control this part of the game. On an assist from Nick Arrington, a calm three pointer from the left wing by Cody made it 64-75 to send the signal to Marshall that they were really in trouble as the clock ticked below the 2:05 mark. Marshall’s ensuing desperation, coupled with the second technical foul called on them, led to a string of eleven consecutive points by Lake from free throws. Due to good defense and their rival’s fatigue, Clear Lake scored 8 points before Marshall finally answered with a basket. 

With thirty seconds remaining in an outstanding basketball game Kevin Anderson entered the game and added two more free throws and a basket to make the final score 70-90. His basket was the first from the field for Lake in almost two minutes. Clear Lake shot 15 of 16 free throws in the fourth quarter and 30 of 36 (83%) total. It is really tough to beat a team who can score 30 points on free throws. That probably approaches the school’s record (if they kept that one). 

Andrew Gorie, by the way, had a stand-out performance for the night with 21 points and some really savvy defense which included taking three charges and one called offensive foul, all at critical junctures in the game. Cody Kinsey led all scorers with 22 points (and a calm 9 of 10 free throws). 

What often separates an excellent team from an outstanding team might sometimes be how they respond down the stretch in a very close game. Coupled with their overall performance in the Klein Collins game which Lake ultimately lost, this season’s Clear Lake team is now officially an outstanding basketball team (at least in one man’s opinion).  Clear Lake has a history of tough, hard working, savvy basketball teams that rise to the challenge and this one is no exception. Every player mentally and physically rose to meet the challenge for this game and it was obvious. But in the last six minutes of the game when it was really on the line, Clear Lake played superb basketball and their opponents, no matter how hard they tried, could not compete with them as a team.  

In this fan’s memory there has not been another Clear Lake team with such easily interchangeable parts i.e. depth. When one player needs a breather, Coach McDonald puts in another and the team rolls on. In this game every Lake player off the bench had a noticeably positive effect on the outcome of the game. As it will be in several games this season, the depth of the Lake squad was a critical factor in determining the result of this very physical contest.  

Reflections

In this game everyone played and everyone played very well. For sure not everyone had their best game possible though. After all, it is early in the season and this is high school basketball. We will see a game this season where Steve Hartman, possibly off the bench, will take control and score 17 points or more to win the game but it was not necessary for this win. We will see one or more games this season where Jacob Horton will hit at least five three’s in a row to win a game but it was not required for this victory. We will see a game this season where Mark McCollum’s keen rebounding skills will outshine everyone on the floor. Wait. We have already seen that. Okay then, we will see a game where Kyle Ashton’s impressive rebounding skills will outshine everyone’s. We will see a game where Mark McCollum’s sound outside shooting will make him high point man for the game. We will see a game where Nick Arrington’s ball handling skills will single handedly break the opponent’s press. Wait. We saw that in the Marshall game. Okay, we will see Nick have several games where he scores in double figures with his keenly accurate jump shot from 14 feet away and lead his team in assists. We will see Jason Hollis on offense overpower his opponents and have multiple steals on defense. We will see Brian Campbell out quick his opponents to score multiple lay-ups (and he will also have four or five steals in a game). We will see Jay Williams as a leading scorer who will combine his inside play with a deadly three pointer from the wing to please the crowd. We will see Kevin Anderson come off the bench to score double figures and have several key rebounds. We will see more of the same great play from Cody Kinsey but we will see a game where he makes all of his free throws and there will be at least nine or ten in a row. We will see Andrew Gorie play more smart games on both ends of the court while scoring in double figures. 

The point of all this is we will see this team build on their strengths while minimizing their weaknesses. With several outstanding players but no declared super stud, this is a really fun team to watch. When every player on this Lake team really makes up his mind to prevail early in the week as they appeared to in this Fort Bend Marshall game, Clear Lake is going to be very tough to beat.

Individual Scoring:

Cody 22 (9 of 10 FT's), Andrew 21 (3 charges taken plus one flagrant offensive foul, 5 rebs),

Kyle 9, Jay 7 (7 rebs), Mark 7, Brian 6, Jacob 6, Nick 5 (4 assists), Kevin 4