Clear Lake Falconhoops

Ripley, Ohio met "Clear Lake, Texas" Wednesday at noon in the second game of pool play in the Paintsville, Kentucky Classic Basketball Tournament. Attendance was slightly over 100. Again, a small school faced the giant Texas school and fell to defeat. Again, the game was decided early although the scrappy squad from the Midwest never gave up and fought a valiant fight. Just as in the first game the Falcons got most everyone's attention before and during the game with their athleticism but they have yet to earn the respect of the crowd with their basketball prowess due to not yet displaying that they can play up to their potential. Two dominant, but unimpressive wins over small schools does not wow the crowd when the difference in talent is so noticeable.

This was a very physical basketball game at times because the Ripley Blue Jay football players who happened to be on the court in uniform did not take to being humiliated by the dominant Falcons. Lake started out a bit slow and it was 9-3 Lake, then 15-6. The quarter closed at 18-10, Clear Lake up by 8.

In the second quarter the Falcons watched as the Blue Jays clawed their way back to 20-17 with 5:24 remaining in the half. Then Lake called a timeout, got their act together and increased the defensive pressure and increased the lead to 24-17. Midway through the second quarter Kendrell Thompson hit a three to make it 28-17 after Jimmy Witten made a free throw. At the half it was 34-23.

Clear Lake's reserves could beat the tenacious Ripley bunch and in the second half they did. The third quarter got pretty ugly and the refs had to stop and talk to both squads as the tempers began to show a bit. At the 4:51 mark, with five juniors on the floor the score was 39-23. The Falcons spread their lead to 19 by the close of the quarter and held the smaller Ripley bunch to five points in the period (the tallest player on the Blue Jays is 6'2" but he takes up some room).

With a 19 or 20 point lead throughout most of the fourth quarter the Falcons did not play all that well as they toyed with the Blue Jays while they were improving the Falcons' stats. In the final  period both squads cleaned up their act a bit but there was still some fouling that was not appreciated by the Falcons.  At 2:04 remaining in the final period Ross Maha hit his third free throw to bring the score to 57-38. With 1:40 remaining, Andy threw a long pass to Jon Gilmer who drove to the basket for a layup. Then Ross got another two tries at the charity stripe. He made the first. On the miss of the second attempt, Gilmer leaped up for a beautiful putback to bring the score to 63-38. The final score was 65-38.

Good distributed scoring from the Falcons but some of the players who should be scoring in double figures are not noticeable factors in the game. The next game should be more of a challenge.

Season record is 14-6.


Individual Scoring:
Armie Lewis 18 (5 steals),
Jimmy Witten 9, Jon Gilmer 7, Fulton Brisco 6, RJ Turner 6 (4 steals), Kendrell Thompson 6, Justin Kurtz 5, Ross Maha 4, Andy Leveque 4

FALCON STATS	FG made	FG attempts	%
2's	20	36	56%
3's	3	22	14%
free throws	11	16	69%

SCORE BY QUARTER	1	2	3	4
Clear Lake	18	34	47	65
Ripley	10	23	28	38

LINESCORE	1	2	3	4	Final
Clear Lake	18	16	13	18	65
Ripley	10	13	5	10	38

REBOUNDS	US	THEM
Offensive	13
Defensive	20

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Article from the Houston Chronicle Thursday, December 15, 2005

(per game averages for the team at end of season)

points	63.1
points against	56
2 pt. field goal %	45.9%
3 pt. field goal %	30.4%
free throw %	65.8%
rebounds	25.4
steals	9.8
blocked shots	2.0
fouls	16.8
turnovers	13.4
assists	14.2

(next year's schedule is in archive)
January 3, 2006 
Clear Lake 62 at Pearland 51
Galveston Ball 83 at Clear Brook 61
Alvin 67 at Brazoswood 34
Clear Creek open

January 6, 2006
Brazoswood 62 at Clear Lake 80
Clear Creek 61 at Alvin 49
Pearland 43 at Clear Brook 41
Galv Ball is off

Jan 10
Clear Lake 70 at Clear Creek 76
Clear Brook 53 at Brazoswood 67
Galveston Ball 49 at Pearland 55
Alvin off

Jan 13
Alvin 51 at Clear Lake 46
Clear Creek 68 at Clear Brook 48
Brazoswood 54 at Galveston Ball 73
Pearland open

Jan 17
Clear Lake 61 at Fort Bend Bush 49 (non district)
Galveston Ball 59 at Clear Creek 81
Clear Brook 58 at Alvin 53
Pearland 78 at Brazoswood 34

Jan 20
Clear Lake 55 at Clear Brook 43
Clear Creek 47 at Pearland 34
Alvin 58 at Galveston Ball 76
Brazoswood open

Jan 24
Galveston Ball 54 at Clear Lake 56
Brazoswood 63 at Clear Creek 81
Clear Brook off
Pearland 53 at Alvin 50

START OF SECOND ROUND
January 27
Pearland 37 at Clear Lake 49
Clear Brook 48 at Galveston Ball 58
Brazoswood 55 at Alvin 68
Clear Creek open

January 31
Clear Lake 61 at Brazoswood 41
Alvin 31 at Clear Creek 33
Clear Brook 31 at Pearland 42
Galveston Ball open

February 3
Clear Creek 58 at Clear Lake 47
Brazoswood 51 at Clear Brook 78
Pearland 35 at Galveston Ball 47
Alvin open

February 7
Clear Lake 70 at Alvin 58
Clear Brook 41 at Clear Creek 66
Galveston Ball 60 at Brazoswood 49
Pearland open
 
February 10
Clear Lake open
Alvin 59 at Clear Brook 67
Clear Creek 69 at Galveston Ball 41
Brazoswood 56 at Pearland 66

February 14
Clear Brook 44 at Clear Lake 67
Pearland 46 at Clear Creek 54
Galveston Ball 54 at Alvin 51
Brazoswood open

February 17
Clear Lake 62 at Galveston Ball 74
Clear Creek 80 at Brazoswood 54
Alvin 49 at Pearland 46
Clear Brook open

Due to a technical problem there will be no article for this game


Individual scoring:
Justin Kurtz 15, Armie Lewis 15 (5 steals), Andy Leveque 11
Kendrell Thompson 7,  Jimmy Witten 6 (4 steals), Brandon Wynn 3, Jon Gilmer 2

17 turnovers and 17 steals

FALCON STATS	FG made	FG attempts	%
2's	15	31	48%
3's	6	17	35%
free throws	11	18	56%

LINESCORE	1	2	3	4
Clear Lake	14	14	19	12
Deer Park	12	1	13	10

SCORE BY QUARTER	1	2	3	4	Final
Clear Lake	14	28	47	59	59
Deer Park	12	13	26	36	36

REBOUNDS	US	THEM
Offensive	6	9
Defensive	16	16