Clear Lake Falconhoops

Falcons Lose 70-63 in First Round of Poplar Bluff Showdown Clear Lake met a smaller, slightly quicker team when they came up against the Austin East team from Knoxville, Tennessee in the first round of the Poplar Bluff Showdown tournament on December 28, 2004. Determinants in winning a first round game in an out-of-town tournament include: 1.matchup- how strong a team are you matched up against. Often the stronger teams are matched up against much weaker teams to make the play more equitable after the first round. 2.How tired a team is when they walk on the court. 3.Which team shows up to play. The matchup was favorable. Lake was a noticeably more talented, more well rounded team. Clear Lake played hard but appeared tired from almost the outset against the 10-2 Roadrunners. No wonder. In addition to the holiday travel for some which left them weary, when your team must get up and to the school by 5 a.m. to go to the airport, hang around at the airport for almost 2 hours, fly to St. Louis, rent a van and drive three hours to Poplar Bluff before playing an 8:30 p.m. game which doesn’t start until almost 9 p.m., you might as well spot the other team at least 15 points. (All but one of the other teams in the eight team tournament are within a three hour drive and should be less fatigued. In the eighteen year history of the tourney, Clear Lake is the team to come the second farthest distance to play in the eight team tournament). Suffice it to say, the Falcons worked hard but their bodies could not overcome fatigue caused by a very long day. Despite a valiant effort, a third quarter where their opponents outscored them by 14 points made the difference. The Falcons had too many trips down the court without scoring and allowed too many offensive rebounds in the contest. In addition, officiating in this part of Missouri is noticeably different from what the Falcons are accustomed to. Much more tightly called games and many more basic rule infractions (like traveling) called. One official called traveling on the Falcons three times in one quarter and multiple reviews of the game tape have still not revealed which game he was watching. Overall, the officiating was acceptable though. Officiating was not the reason for the Falcon loss despite what may have appeared as a few too many questionable calls. It was a close first quarter with the Falcons behind by two, 16 to 14 despite going 0 for 5 from three point range. In the second quarter Lake hung in and outscored the Roadrunnners 22 to 11 to bring the score to 36-27 in favor of the Falcons. 5 of 13 shooting from two point range did not help but lots of hustle made the difference. The third quarter was the difference in the ball game though. As their team name implies, the Roadrunners are not accustomed to being out hustled as they had been in the first half, a fact that their coach surely emphasized in the locker room at halftime. With a spark of life probably stimulated by some unpleasant observations by their coach, the Austin East squad out worked and out jumped the Falcons all over the court in the third and fourth quarters. Lake was beat in the fore court and the backcourt when they weren’t beating themselves (21 turnovers). The third quarter closed with the Roadrunners up 54-49. Still anybody’s game. In the fourth it was a very close contest with Lake trailing by three in the first four minutes of the quarter. At midpoint in the quarter, the Roadrunners widened the gap to 7 and then 9 and maintained it at 6 or 7 points for the duration. Despite all of this, the Falcons really did not look as bad as they have in a few past games this season. They did have trouble with the constant pressure on the ball applied by the scurrying Roadrunners though. A guess at the game shooting percentage from the field for the Austin East team would come in around 80%. Assuming the Falcons get some rest instead of engaging in some late night card playing marathons as they have been known to do in past year out-of-town tournaments, Lake should take the Consolation crown by playing nearer to their potential. But the teenage mind being what it is and the tendency to blow it off after an initial loss could just as easily deliver another loss or two to the youthful Falcons. The Falcons face the 5 and 10 St. Andrews Saints from Ridgeland, Mississippi in the next round. Scoring by quarter: 14-22-13-14 US 16-11-27-16 Them Scoring for the Falcons: Gordon Abner 22, Scott Oswald 12, Kendrell Thompson 8, Armie Lewis 7, Mark Murphy 6, Andy Leveque 4, Lee Mazurek 2, Justin Kurtz 2 2’s: 22 of 44 (50%) 3’s: 3 of 14 (21%) Free throws: 10 of 13 (77%)