Clear Lake Falconhoops

Pearland Downs Clear Lake 66-64 January 28, 2005 I really, really believed Clear Lake would beat the taller Pearland team tonight in the Pearland gym when the second round of district play started. In the previous match-up, Pearland topped Lake by 1 point in their district opener. If Lake made their free throws and played as well as the first game, Lake would win. Lake made their free throws but still lost. To watch Clear Lake play a game like they played last week against Clear Brook was so satisfying because it displayed the team's potential. To watch the Falcons play a game like they played tonight against Pearland was frustrating. Not because they played poorly. The Falcons did not play poorly at all. They played pretty well but Pearland and the officials never let the Falcons get in their groove. Pearland took an early lead and was up 10-7 midway through the first quarter. After another minute of play it was 14-7. At 2:27 Scott Oswald, on his way to a team high 15 points, hit a trey to make it 14-10. Then Kendrell Thompson hit one from the paint to make it 14-12. With only a few seconds remaining in the period, Andy Leveque made a great pass in to Justin Kurtz in the paint. Justin laid it in to bring the score to 18-14. Lake went 5 for 14 from the field in the quarter. The quarter ended with Pearland up 20-14. One minute into the second quarter Armie Lewis stole the ball and Scott hit a trey to make it 20-17. Mark Murphy hit a three at 6:28 to tie it at 20. It was tied again at 22. Midway through the quarter it was 24-22 in Pearland's favor. At the 2:24 mark Lee Mazurek got a rebound and a putback to bring it to 27-24. At 1:15 Justin hit a trey to make it 31-27. The quarter closed at 32-29. Lake shot 6 free throws in the half. Pearland shot 14. At 3:47 left in the 3rd, Gordon Abner hit a free throw after a successful basket to tie it at 36. It was tied again at 38 when Lee Mazurek hit from the right wing with three minutes remaining in the quarter. At the 2:49 mark Scotty hit a three to make it 42-41, Lake down by one before Justin hit a free throw to tie it at 42. The quarter ended with Lake down by 3, 45-42. Midway in the final period Kendrell stole the ball and scored when Pearland in-bounded it to put Lake ahead 50-49. This steal made the TV highlights on channel 55. But Lake’s lead was short lived. Five seconds later Pearland regained the lead and maintained it. With the score at 60-56 in Pearland’s favor, Mark Murphy fouled out. At the 1:15 remaining mark, Justin hit a trey from the right wing to bring the score to 61-59, Lake still trailing. With 39 seconds remaining Justin hit a second trey to bring the Falcons within 1, 63-62. After some successful free throws by Pearland in the waning seconds, the final score was 66-62 in favor of Pearland. One of the many ways an official can affect the outcome of a game is when calling a foul in the act of shooting. Once the foul is called, if it is before the act of shooting began, the offense gets the ball out of bounds but no free throw. If it is after the act of shooting starts, then a free throw or two is awarded. As with most times when the whistle is blown, it is a judgment call by the ref. One of the things that stood out about this game by half time was the number of shooting fouls Pearland was awarded relative to the number of shooting fouls Clear Lake was awarded. It was very one sided in Pearland’s favor throughout the game. This can be explained in a number of ways. It is not the intent of this article to explain why it happens but rather to acknowledge that it was a significant factor in this game. Suffice it to say it was not just because Pearland was smarter about when to foul. Without belaboring the point any more, just consider the number of free throws in the contest. Pearland shot 42 in the game. Clear Lake shot 17. Lake should be commended for making 15 of 17 but it is tough to win when the other team shoots 42 free throws and makes 24 points off free throws! Despite shooting 25 more free throws than Clear Lake, Pearland made only 9 more points than Clear Lake off free throws. The other major reason Lake lost was rebounding. Lake allowed too many offensive rebounds. Depending on whose stats you believe, the Falcons had between 17 and 22 TOTAL rebounds. The Oilers had 23 OFFENSIVE rebounds and a total of 41 rebounds. Even if only one half the offensive rebounds resulted in scoring, that is potentially 24 points allowed because the taller team was often not blocked out effectively. Mighty tough to win when that many offensive rebounds are allowed. Pearland won the first game against Lake because every time the ball went up, every Pearland player, almost without exception, moved toward the basket. How hard is it to learn WHEN THE BALL GOES UP, ALWAYS MOVE TOWARD THE BASKET? DON'T STAND AND WATCH AND WONDER. MOVE TOWARD THE BASKET OR AT LEAST DON'T MOVE AWAY FROM THE BASKET. Pearland won their second game against Lake because they shot mostly close, high percentage shots and they got lots and lots of offensive rebounds. Close in, high percentage shots are a Pearland trademark although their shooting percentage on this night was not that good. Clear Lake shot between 49 and 56 times from the field (based on whose stats you choose to examine). Pearland shot at least 49 times as well. What this all means when you add it up is that Lake should have lost by at least 20 points but they only lost by 4. Not bad when all things are considered. Now if we can just do a better job of blocking out and rebounding. In other district action Brazoswood downed Alvin 33-25 and Clear Brook topped Galveston Ball 90-75. Clear Creek was idle. Score for each quarter 14-29-42-62 US 20-32-45-66 Them Scoring by quarter 14-15-13-20 US 20-12-13-21 Them Scoring for the Falcons: Scott Oswald 15, Justin Kurtz 12, Gordon Abner 10, Mark Murphy 7, Kendrell Thompson 6, Lee Mazurek 4, Andy Leveque 4, Armie Lewis 4 2’s: 13 of 35 (37%) 3’s: 7 of 21 (33%) Free throws: 15 of 17 (88%)

Top 10 Prerequisites for a Magnet School Student*

10. Must look good in Adidas sportswear.
9. If you are below 5' 6" must be able to shoot 60% from the field.
8. If you are above 6' must be able to grab 10 rebounds jumping off one foot.
7. Must be able to play zone defense and yell a lot as you play it!
6. Admission fee of 1 brisket and box of cupcakes must be paid to assistant coaches.
5. Must be able to clearly document address...example Sugarland, Texas.
4. Must be willing to play second string by your senior year. (Don't worry you will still probaly make All District)
3. Must be able to do anything the coach tells you to do...example....Eat one meal at local Coffee Shop and talk hoops with locals.
2. Must be willing to share after game meals with assistant coaches.
1. For initiation...must sit through (endure) the viewing of Fort Bend video presentation..."The success of Fort Bend Basketball"

* paraphrased from Texas Hoops message board

Clear Lake vs. Galveston Ball January 25, 2005 Despite Galveston Ball's 0-5 district record, Coach Lynn McDonald was worried about the game. He has been there too many times to take this game for granted. He knew Ball might bring their “A” game tonight to Tornado Alley as the Tors faced the Falcons for the first time this season. But he did not know the Falcons would go 1 for 12 from three point range. How are you supposed to win a 5A basketball game these days when you shoot 1 of 12 from three-point range? Clear Lake has a better basketball team than Galveston. Lake has more talented players and Lake plays better together as a team. But sometimes in high school basketball the better team does not win. If you have too many turnovers or if you get beat on the defensive boards you might lose. If you have two players absent as Lake did, it makes it tougher to win (Brandon Wynn is still out with a fractured ankle and Lee Mazurek was absent due to illness). If you get officiating typical for the Galveston gym, anything is possible so Lake should have known it would not be an easy win. Past experience has proven that officials from the Galveston chapter may make it tough to get anything close to an impartial game. The officials tonight were from the Houston chapter and they sorta seemed to just want it to be over so they ignored many infractions that would usually be called (wait and see where the officials are from when Ball comes to Lake's gym). When you have all these factors to deal with, you had better make your free throws. Fortunately, Clear Lake did. Clear Lake did win the basketball game 60-55. It was not pretty like the Brook game but it was a win. It was a close ball game and the outcome was not obvious until the last 50 seconds of the game. The ball game was tied at 17, 21, and 23 in the second quarter, and at 27, 31, 35, and 37 in the third quarter. Sound close so far? In the fourth quarter the game remained close with Clear Lake leading slightly throughout the quarter and denying the Tors opportunities to gain the lead. The Falcons went 9 of 11 from the free throw line in the final quarter. This completes the first round of district play. Clear Lake faces Pearland at their house on Friday night to start the second round of district play. In other district action Pearland beat Alvin 72-39 and Clear Creek had to hit two free throws in the final 6 seconds to beat Brazoswood 44-42. The game was tied with just over a minute to play. Scoring for the Falcons: Kendrell Thompson 15 (game high)(7 rebounds), Justin Kurtz 10, Scott Oswald 9 (5 steals), Gordon Abner 7, Andy Leveque 6, Armie Lewis 6, Mark Murphy 5, Jordan Villarreal 2. Score by quarter: 12-23-37-60 US 09-26-37-55 Them Scoring by quarter: 12-11-14-23 US 09-17-11-18 Them 2’s: 22 of 40 (55%) 3’s: 1 of 12 ( 8%)!!!! Free throws: 13 of 17 (76%)

Falcons Spank Wolverines 71-59 January 21, 2005 What A Great Basketball Game! It looked as if it would be a long night when the Clear Brook Wolverines came out charging against the stunned Falcons in their first district match-up of the 2004-05 season tonight in the Clear Lake gym. The two teams had previously met in the CCISD Tournament on December 4, 2004 to determine the third place finish. Clear Lake prevailed 48-42 in that contest. Tonight the Wolverines were determined not to allow a repeat of the previous match-up. They were much better prepared. They attacked Lake’s weaknesses with the precision of a Navy Seal Team on a clandestine mission after Lake took an early 7 to 6 lead. The Clear Brook bunch was runnin’ and gunnin’, scoring at will, and appeared to be unstoppable in the first four minutes of the game. Some fans in the overflow crowd began imagining a blowout as they braced for the worst (or the best if you were a Clear Brook fan). Lake’s man-to-man defense was ineffective to say the least. With 3:34 remaining in the first quarter, the score was 19 to 9, then 23 to 13, as the Wolverines dominated the game on both ends of the court. But then something truly superb happened. Clear Lake’s Coach Lynn McDonald, fresh from his 200th victory on the previous outing, called his second quick timeout and made some substitutions and changed his defense to a zone. Andy Leveque and Jordan Villarreal entered the game and, together with their teammates, stopped the nonsense. The Falcons began to hit their shots and Lake was down by 2 with the score at the end of the first quarter at 23-21 after some truly impressive offense by the Falcons. Lake scored 10 unanswered points in the last three minutes of the quarter. There were only three fouls called in the quarter so they were letting them play. In the second quarter it was defense that dominated after a run-and-gun first quarter. Clear Brook continued to lead until 2:27 remaining, when Kendrell Thompson drove to the basket and was fouled. The refs called goal tending and awarded the basket. His free throw tied it at 27 all. The quarter finished with Brook up 33-29. In the first half (and the second half), the effect that Justin Kurtz had on the game, on both ends of the court, was at times indescribable it was so impressive. In the first 35 seconds of the second half, Mark Murphy put in two timely free throws and then Kendrell Thompson tied it again at 33 when he pulled up for a short jumper from the right side of the basket. At 5:57 remaining in the third quarter, Kendrell tied the game for the third time when he hit a three point shot. It was tied again at 37 and at 39. WOW! What a ball game. At 4:29 Scotty hit a trey to put Lake ahead 42-39. Lake’s slightly superior offense and defense would not allow Clear Brook to retake the lead in this game. A basket by Justin Kurtz at 2:39 put Lake ahead 44-39. A reverse layup by Scott and baskets by Justin and Kendrell closed the quarter with Lake up 50-45. Early in the final period Justin got fouled on a three point attempt that would never have gone in. The score was 50-47, Brook trailing by only 3 points, their narrowest margin for the remainder of the game. Justin sank two of the free throws to increase the lead to 5. Then, with Justin lying on the floor after some "contact", an intentional kick by Brook’s Ryan Umeh led to Armie Lewis sinking two free throws when the technical foul was called. This brought the score to 54-47. With 6 minutes remaining in the game Lee Mazurek hits two free throws to bring the score to 59-51. Two more charity tosses by Scott brought it to 61-51 (foul count was 3 and 9 at this point) before Kendrell hit a short jumper from the right side to make it 63-51 with 3:40 remaining. Clear Brook was unable to narrow the gap to less than 9 in the remaining minutes. At just over two minutes remaining, Umeh got another technical called on him and was ejected when he shoved a Clear Lake player under Brook’s basket right in front of the official. Can you spell “attitude”? With one minute remaining the Wolverines started purposefully fouling but the ten point deficit was too much to overcome. Final score 71-59, a huge victory for Clear Lake. Reflections on the game. This was the 900th victory for Clear Lake High School in boys varsity basketball. How fitting that it should come from a game which personifies what high school basketball is all about. Huge rivalry, two superbly coached, well prepared squads comprised of outstanding athletes learning the satifaction and the joy of teamwork at its very best. Stands packed with zealous fans eager for their team to prevail. Tonight the Falcons showed who was the better team. There is a fine line between prepared and over-prepared for an important game. Both mentally and physically, the Falcons were very well prepared for this game. Despite a scary start, once the Falcons got on track they showed the Clear Brook coaches again that they are not a one-man team. Three players scored in double figures; eight players scored. The entire squad showed what they are capable of when they make up their minds. This was one of the best games Lake has played all season, perhaps better than their season opener against Fort Bend Marshall (now ranked #1 in the state in several polls). Although they are a young team, the Falcons have potential that has been untapped most of the season. Tonight in a win against one of their archrivals they demonstrated what they can do. Hopefully, with some added leadership from the team, they will peak at just the right time and achieve the potential for this season that some of us know they can achieve. They sure are fun to watch! FYI: Scott Oswald has agreed to play football at the Naval Academy. Congratulations, Scotty. Scoring by quarter: 21-08-21-21=71 US 23-10-12-14=59 Them Scoring for the Falcons: Justin Kurtz 23, Scott Oswald 17, Kendrell Thompson 14, Armie Lewis 6, Gordon Abner 5, Lee Mazurek 2, Mark Murphy 2, Andy Leveque 2 2's: 20 of 41 (49%) 3's: 4 of 13 (31%) Free throws: 19 of 26 (73%)

Falcons Break the Fort Bend Broncos 68-64 January 18, 2005 In the good ole days (which can also be read as up until this season) you expected an easy game when Clear Lake played Fort Bend Bush. After all, the Broncos are only in their fourth or fifth year as a high school in the rapidly growing Sugarland area. But the young school is coming of age rapidly. They came into the Clear Lake gym with a 15-9 record compared to Clear Lake’s 14-11 for the season. The Bush Boys have never beaten Clear Lake and they wanted it to happen tonight in the non-district match-up injected into the middle of district play. Since Pearland was added to the district and an odd number of teams comprise District 24-5A, it is necessary for each team to have an open date in each half of district play. It has been a long, long time since Clear Lake played a non-district game in the middle of its regular district season. This was the kind of game that is very beneficial for Clear Lake’s team on a number of different fronts. The two teams were well matched so the chances of getting spanked badly were remote as were the chances of Lake really beating up on FB Bush as in the past. The Falcons held an advantage in depth off the bench but overall the teams were fairly well matched. The Falcons had to play good team ball and rely heavily on their superlative skills to perform well enough to win this exciting ball game. With the exception of some not-so-good officiating at times, this was a very good basketball game. The game was tied ten times and the lead changed hands nine times in the first half and five times in the second half. The outcome of the game was not evident until the final seconds. In the first quarter the Falcons took an early lead before the Broncos tied it at 8. Scott Oswald broke the tie with a dazzling reverse layup to put Lake ahead. It was tied again at 10 (at the 1:40 mark) and again at 12 until Kendrell received a pass from Jordan and drove in for a layup to put Lake up 14-12 with 53 seconds remaining in the period. In the second quarter Lake trailed by a couple of points for three minutes until Lee Mazurek pulled up and drained a trey to put Lake up 22-21. The Broncos quickly retook the lead. At the midpoint of the second quarter, Bush was up 26-24. Junior Justin Kurtz scored 10 points, had several key rebounds, and a blocked shot in the second quarter. At the half it was 32-31 in favor of the Broncos. Clear Lake came out in the third quarter and regained the lead when Gordon found Mark Murphy under the basket. Lake widen their lead to 5 and held a slight lead for six minutes until Bush tied it at 45 with 1:53 remaining in the period. Bush then went up by 5. The Falcons narrowed the gap to trail by 1 and closed the quarter 51-50. At 6:27 remaining in the final period, Armie Lewis sank a free throw to tie it at 55. Lewis’s second charity toss put Lake up 56-55 before Bush retook the lead. On his first of two free throws, Justin Kurtz tied it again at 57 with 4:45 remaining in the game. His second toss put Lake ahead 58-57. At 4:10 Kurtz hit a trey to put Lake ahead 61-59. At 3:18 remaining it was tied (at 61) for the last time. With 40 seconds remaining Lake went up 67-62 when Kurtz hit another layup. With 29 seconds left it was 67-64. Then Scotty hit the second of two free throws to make the final score 68-64. Justin Kurtz scored 13 points in the fourth quarter and led all scorers with a game high 25*. In district action, Brazoswood defeated Pearland 53-48!! and Clear Brook beat Alvin 61-50. Assume Clear Creek beat Galveston Ball. Scoring by quarter 15–16-19-18= 68 US 14–18-19-13= 64 Them Scoring for the Falcons: Justin Kurtz 25*, Scott Oswald 10, Gordon Abner 8, Kendrell Thompson 7, Lee Mazurek 6, Mark Murphy 6, Armie Lewis 6 2’s: 25 of 51 3’s: 2 of 9 Free throws: 12 of 20 * My unofficial scorebook had Justin with 25 points and Gordon with 8. The official scorebook had Justin with 23 and Gordon with 10 points.