Clear Lake Falconhoops

Clear Lake Trounces La Porte 58-38 Bi-District Playoff February 22, 2005 Tonight in the Stoney Phillips Field House in Pasadena, Texas, the Clear Lake Falcons whipped the La Porte Bulldogs 58-38 in the first (Bi-District) round of the Region III playoffs. The Bulldogs, one of the leading defensive teams in the region, got beat soundly by defense and poor shooting from the field. Sparked by big man Mark Murphy, the tenacious defense of Clear Lake and ice cold shooting from the field denied La Porte any field goals in the first quarter (the Dogs were 0 of 14 from the field in the first quarter). The Falcons led by a score of 15-1 at the end of the first quarter. That’s right, La Porte scored 1 point in an entire quarter! Guess you could say the Dogs were having some trouble with the Falcon defense. The Lake squad was rested, relaxed, and confident despite having been beaten at La Porte in the ninth game of the season. It was as if the Falcons knew they were a better team than La Porte and they had to “Just Do it” to prove it. In the second quarter, Clear Lake, with a more lax defense, scored 8 points to La Porte’s 5 before La Porte got on track and scored 10 unanswered points to bring the score to 23-16 in favor of the Falcons at halftime. Two junior refs and one intermediate ref provided what could only be called abominable officiating at times. One ref could not call anything but offensive fouls throughout the first half. Two of the three referees have the potential to develop into good refs but it was not obvious from their work tonight. At just under the 5 minute mark in the third quarter, Gordon Abner, on his way to five steals, five plus rebounds, and a game high 19 points, stole the ball and drove down for the stuff to put Lake ahead 30-18. That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the game. Lake was in control. At 1:43 remaining in the third quarter Kendrell Thompson hit a trey from the wing to put Lake up by 13, 35-22. Lake did not score again and the quarter closed at 35-26, La Porte down by only 9 points and still in the hunt. But the Falcons had other plans for the fourth quarter. They allowed the Dogs to close it to 9 again briefly before Scott Oswald “stopped and popped” from about ten feet out to bring the score to 40-28 at the 3:40 mark. In the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, Clear Lake steadily pulled away to increase their lead to 20, 51-31 when Justin Kurtz received an off-the-mark ally-oop pass from Andy Leveque. Justin had to reach way back to get the ball but he still brought it around to put it through the hoop. Wow! Despite what the scoreboard indicated, the final score was 58-28. This was a good win for the Clear Lake squad. They played with confidence and poise. Their athletic ability showed through on numerous occasions and they played together as a team. Now if they can just get some decent officiating and learn not to react to bad officiating. Both the players and the enthusiastic fans are reminded that there are those who make A's or B's, or C's or D's or even F's in different aspects of life, even in high school basketball officiating. Just think how frustrating it must be for the boys on the court who give so much and then are robbed by lazy or inept or inexperienced officials. There are some very good officials out there but why are they so hard to find? The Falcons face the Humble Wildcats (ranked 12th in the greater Houston area) Friday night at 7 p.m. in the Pasadena Memorial Gym. Don’t forget to watch out for the killer speed bumps on the side parking lot at Pasadena Memorial. The playoff bracket for the Region III playoffs posted on the web site will be updated after each round of the playoffs. Scoring for the Falcons: Gordon Abner 19 (game high)(5 steals)(5+ rebounds); Scott Oswald 9, Justin Kurtz 9, Mark Murphy 7 (6+ rebounds) , Armie Lewis 7 (6 assists), Kendrell Thompson 5, Andy Leveque 2. Scoring by quarter: 15-08-12-23 US 01-15-10-12 Them Score by Quarter: 15-23-35-58 Us 01-16-26-38 Them 2's: 17 of 36 (47%) 3's: 4 of 7 (57%) Free Throws: 12 of 23 (52%)

2005 Final Standings Varsity 20-14, 7-5 Third in District Junior Varsity 18-12, 8-4 Second in District Sophomores 19-11, 9-3 Third in District Freshman A* 27-10, 9-3 2nd in District Freshman B 27-5, 11-1 District Champs *In the last game of the season, the Freshman A Team defeated previously unbeaten Galveston Ball by 10 points in overtime. Ball was 30-0 coming into the game.

Free Throw Puts Falcons in Playoffs Clear Lake 64, Galveston Ball 63 Sometimes a team does not deserve to lose a game but does. Such was the previous game last Tuesday night when Clear Lake played Clear Brook. Both teams played well and neither team deserved to lose but Lake did when Brook won the game on two free throws with less than ten seconds showing on the clock. Likewise, sometimes a team does not play well enough to deserve to win but does. Tonight, against the last place Galveston Ball High Tors, Clear Lake won on a free throw with two seconds remaining in the game. In the final regular season game in the Clear Lake gym, the Falcons staged a come-from-behind victory to put them in the playoffs against LaPorte next Tuesday night. Fitting and ironic after the heartbreaking loss to arch rival Clear Brook. Perhaps some of the Clear Lake players had already decided Clear Lake would win the game so the focus, drive, and determination necessary to beat a formidable opponent seemed to be missing in the game at times. But some of the Falcons could remember their previous trip down on to the island and how, with four minutes remaining, the game was tied. The Tors gave the Falcons a real scare before the Falcons pulled off the victory. Tonight, these Falcons came to play, although some of them got little playing time. They all surely wished they could have played more. They probably all wish they would have played better defense as well. So there appeared to be a mix of motivated and less motivated players on Lake’s bench. One would think with the playoffs on the line each player would be really fired up to garner the win in the last regular season game. It did not appear that way. Lake came out solid in the first quarter and hit 80% from the field and did not get out hustled or out rebounded. Lake led throughout the quarter and closed it 18-13. With officiating by three very junior refs all in their first season of calling varsity ball, the second quarter foul count got lopsided early. Midway through the second quarter, the Tors narrowed the score to 24-22. At 2:50 remaining it was tied at 24 with a foul count of 8 and 3 (8 against the Falcons). The Tors made 10 of 14 free throws in the first half. The Falcons shot and made 2. With Lake shooting 3 of 13 from the field, the quarter closed with Galveston up 26-31. At halftime the fans were delighted by the Flares performing an extremely impressive routine that would make any school envious. Next, the cheerleaders did a routine that was nationally ranked in anybody’s book. First class all the way from both squads. Admittedly, the halftime may have been better than the first half of the game. (Pregame activities included senior parents recognition and fan appreciation). In the third quarter, with 4:26 remaining, Justin Kurtz hit a trey to regain the lead and put Lake up 38-37. The lead changed four times in the quarter and closed with Galveston Ball up by 2, 52-54. Kurtz scored 8 points in the quarter and had a team-high 15 points for the game but was not allowed to re-enter the game after he was taken out late in the third quarter. The reason is not known. It was probably not due to injury. Throughout the game the Tors put on a "Basketball 101" clinic at times by spreading their offense, clearing out the middle, beating Lake's point guard, and driving into the paint to dish off the ball when the Falcon defenders were drawn out to cover the approaching ball handler. Classic three-on-two basketball at that point. Even though this play is not unfamiliar to the Falcons, their defense was ineffective and they repeatedly failed to adjust. It worked every time! Consequently, the Tors scored and scored and scored with this same play. In the final quarter at the 4:14 mark, Kendrell Thompson tied the game at 57 when he hit one of three free throws. It was tied at 59 with two minutes remaining. (Five Falcons scored in double figures in this game). With 38 seconds remaining in the game and Lake trailing by two, 61-63, Lake called timeout to plan their strategy. After Lake’s timeout, their execution did not go as planned and a failed attempt from the paint resulted in a Galveston rebound. With 9 seconds left on the clock, the Tors quickly passed the ball across midcourt where, not one, but three Galveston players, awaited unguarded. As they raced to the basket it was just a question of which player would score to lock up the victory. But the Galveston player had to showboat when a simple layup would have put the game away. He missed the layup/dunk and Gordon Abner, who had raced down the court, came down with a strongly contested rebound. He rapidly dribbled toward the right side and found Scott Oswald, almost at midcourt, cruising toward Lake’s bucket on the near sideline. An accurate pass from Gordon to Scott allowed Scott to forcefully drive to the basket from the left side, weaving his way through heavy traffic for a layup to tie the game. There were players all around him but the determination on Scott's face looked like he had just rounded the left end and saw nothing but daylight for 70 yards to the goal line (Scott was the star quarterback on the football team which advanced to the state semifinals). But wait, Scott was fouled as he sank the basket. So, with 2 seconds remaining on the clock (after a Galveston timeout), Scott confidently stepped to the line and sank the free throw to put Lake ahead and win. The Tors in-bounded the ball and a last second desperation shot from just across midcourt barely missed. Lake won 64-63. Whew! In other district action, Pearland survived a late rally by Alvin to win 36-33, and District champs Clear Creek beat Brazoswood 73-52. Clear Brook was idle. Scoring for the Falcons: Justin Kurtz 15, Kendrell Thompson 13, Gordon Abner 12, Mark Murphy 10, Scott Oswald 10, Armie Lewis 4. Score by quarter: 18-26-52-64 Us 13-31-54-63 Them Scoring for each quarter: 18-08-26-12 Us 13-18-23-09 Them 2’s: 15 of 32 (47%) 3’s: 6 of 18 (33%) Free throws: 16 of 25 (64%)

Varsity basketball player Scott Oswald signs football scholarship with the Naval Academy. Front Row: Diane Oswald, Scott Oswald, Steve Oswald. Back Row: Coach Paul Lanier, Head Coach Troy Adudell, Senior Principal Michelle Froneberger, Head Principal Linda Rawlings.