Clear Lake Falconhoops

Pasadena Texas Invitional Tournament Day 1, Game 1 There was little doubt early on about the outcome of the Falcons first contest in the opening round of the Pasadena Texas Invitational Tournament which kicked off on Thursday, November 18, 2004. Lake’s first game in the tourney was played in Pasadena at the Stoney Phillips Field House at 3 p.m. Lake walked on the court in their bright, shiny new RED traveling uniforms. If memory serves me (which is questionable these days), in the 30 year history of Clear Lake High School, this is the first time the traveling togs have been Red instead of blue. I mean a classy, sassy red too. Well, the uniforms must have dazzled the Bulldogs as they were outclassed from the start. The confident Falcons came out in the first quarter, fresh from an impressive season opener against one of the toughest teams in the state, and dominated the game from the beginning. The game was close for the first 6 points but then Lake never looked back as they out shot and out rebounded their opponents and effectively shut down the offense of a good, but noticeably weaker Fort Bend Austin team. With an effective press and 90% shooting of their 2 pointers in the quarter, they led 19 to 6 at the quarter. The Fort Bend Austin bunch got it together a little better in the second quarter and pulled to a 10 point difference before Jordan Villarreal hit a 3 point jumper late in the quarter. Jordan seems to feel he deserves at least one three in the game so why not. The Falcons continued to outpace the struggling Bulldog squad and went in at the half with a 34-23 lead despite some one-sided officiating by three seasoned officials (the foul count was 11 for Lake versus 3 for FB Austin at the half). In the third quarter Brandon Wynn hit 3 of 4 three’s to add to the Bulldogs' frustration and Lake’s shooting 2 of 7 from two point range added to the Bulldogs' glee. Fortunately 4 of 6 shooting from three point land balanced it out so Lake did not look too bad. Within three minutes of the second half, Lake increased their lead to 16 points and it looked like they might run the score on up but the tenacious Bulldogs chewed their way back. Despite playing a more even game in the second half, the Bulldogs could not overcome the more determined Clear Lake squad and trailed by 12 53-41 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter Lake shot 1 for 6 from two point range but hit 7 of 11 free throws to maintain the lead as they coasted to victory. The final score was 68-53. In this tournament a game MVP is acknowledged for each game. The accolade went to Armie Lewis who had a game high 18 points and 5 steals. Scoring for the Falcons: Armie Lewis 18, Kendrell Thompson 11, Justin Kurtz 10, Gordon Abner 9, Brandon Wynn 9, Jordan Villarreal 5, Mark Murphy 4, Lee Mazurek 2. Shooting percentages: 2’s - 15 of 29 (52%); 3’s - 9 of 17 (53%!!); free throws – 11 of 19 (58%) not so good.

Pasadena Tournament Day 1, Game 2 vs. Smiley Golden Eagles Eagles are supposed to be bigger than Falcons. Falcons are supposed to be faster than Eagles. Tonight, neither of those was true. For the seventh straight year in a row, Smiley has a very good basketball team. The Golden Eagles are picked to win their district (19-4A) this year. In fact they are one of the better 4A schools in the state. They are ranked second in the region among the 4A schools by the Houston Chronicle and tonight in the Pasadena Memorial Gym they showed why. With the precision of Marine marching band they orchestrated a first quarter dissection of the Clear Lake Falcons that Denton Cooley would have been proud of. With their team speed and quickness combined with their all-district big man, 6’6” Lezhon Gill (average 25 ppg., 9 rebs., ranked in the top 25 in the region), they put on a clinic for the perplexed Falcons. In the first quarter the Eagles played flawless basketball. They were like machines. Always at the right spot at the right time, no turnovers. Geez. It was 19 to 5 in favor of the Eagles before the Falcons knew what was happening. Of course, 1 of 7 shooting from the Falcons in two point range in the first quarter did not help matters. With the score at 22-7 the Falcons decided to get in the game. A three pointer by Kendrell Thompson and then another by Brandon Wynn brought the quarter to a close with a score of 22-13. In the second quarter, increased defensive pressure by the Falcons began to cause the Eagles some minor concern so we knew they were human. The Falcons pulled to a 5 point difference when the score reached 22-17, then Smiley ran off 9 unanswered points to bring the score to 31-17 before Mark Murphy put in a left handed layup to stop the nonsense. Then another finesse lay-in by Kendrell Thompson helped. With 42 seconds remaining in the half, the persistent Falcons battled back to a 5 point deficit. After a steal and a free throw by the Eagles, Lake in-bounded the ball with 4.95 seconds on the clock but the timekeeper failed to start the clock. Lake made one pass down the court to Gordon Abner, who launched it from downtown and sank it. Since the time keeper never started the clock, the officials disallowed the shot and the half was ended with the score 32-26 in favor of the Eagles. Before the game began, one seasoned fan who types slowly but who shall remain nameless remarked that these officials were too inexperienced to call a game of this caliber between two excellent ball clubs and the officials would be out of their league. These words proved to be prophetic as the officials made numerous bad calls to the point that it was laughable at times. The second half was very poorly officiated. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day. The third quarter seesawed with the point difference bouncing from 6 to 8 to 10 to 8 point lead. With less than three minutes remaining in the third, the clock stopped, and with Mark Murphy in-bounding the ball, the official called a 5 second penalty, the quickest in the west, and the ball was awarded to the Smiley Eagles. A review of the tape shows a three second lapse between the time the official handed Mark the ball and when the whistle was blown. Bt this point the officiating was just generally consistently lousy. The quarter ended at 54-44. Still in the hunt. In the 4th quarter, Smiley pulled ahead by 15 at times, played their slow down game to use the clock, and waited for the easy buckets. They maintained their lead at around 12 points throughout the latter stages of the quarter. Lake hit only 6 of 13 free throws and tried to play catch up but they never gave up. They hung in, reduced the lead to 8 points before the final score of 76-65. Thirteen missed free throws, lost by 9. This is the kind of game that makes Clear Lake a better basketball team. Superb competition, Learn from your mistakes, know which skills to sharpen, vow to do better. Scoring for the Falcons: Kendrell Thompson 17, Gordon Abner 10, Armie Lewis 10, Mark Murphy 9, Lee Mazurek 8, Brandon Wynn 8, Justin Kurtz 2, Jordan Villarreal 1. Shooting stats: 2’s: 15 of 30 (50%) ouch! 3’s 4 of 16 (25%) double ouch! Free throws: 23 of 36!!

When veteran fans face the first game of the season with the trepidation that only comes from being told that a young Clear Lake varsity team might not be as good as Clear Lake tradition demands, it makes it all that much sweeter when the team proves that untrue on their first outing. Coach McDonald knew but he couldn’t state it until his team proved it. Tonight they did. Tonight it became apparent why the coach thinks so highly of his squad. From people who are suppose to know these things came exaltations about the #3 state ranked Fort Bend Marshall Buffalos and their numerous Division I scholarship bound athletes, their outstanding guards, and their abundance of tall, talented players (6 players ranging from 6’4” to 6’10” on their roster). These things are all true. The Buffs tout their recent Clements transferee, 5'9" guard David Devizen, Chronicle preseason Player of the Year (committed to A&M, averaged 21 pts, 10 assists last year), as one of the top players in the Houston area. They glow with pride at their 6’7” post C. J. Webster (bound for Texas State or Southwest Texas to some generations) who can move like a ballerina despite size approaching Evander Holyfield’s not so little brother. As well they should. There is definitely something to be said for “magnet” schools and its effect on one’s ability to build a winning team. But the experts should never underestimate the Clear Lake Falcons. Sure, their squad only had four seniors in the gym and they were missing starter Scott Oswald due to a little thing called the football playoffs. Sure, the Falcons were suppose to lose by 25 points or more. But the Falcons never got that message. They packed a lunch and came to play against the powerhouse Buffalos on Tuesday night’s season opener. When you stack up the talent and compare the two squads, sure Marshall comes out on top. But with all that talent it should have been a runaway. It wasn’t. Instead what was witnessed was an extremely well prepared, disciplined Lake squad with tenacity and fortitude. A team that already plays with confidence and poise. A team that makes some mistakes but will correct them early in the season. Their confidence tells you they can and will. What was witnessed was a masterfully coached Lake team who will surprise a lot of teams this year if they underestimate the Falcons. All that is needed is to sustain the level of tonight's play and to polish off the edges a bit. Coupled with the quality displayed in tonight's game and the steady improvement that we know will come, it suggests a team of over achievers not seen since the 1995 squad ended up in Austin! The Buffalos took an early lead and never trailed in the exciting game. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 21-15. Almost immediately in the game the Falcon’s big man, Mark Murphy got in foul trouble. It looked like it might be a long night. But a couple of quick 3’s by Falcon junior guard Brandon Wynn made the crowd relax a little. With consistently outstanding play from 6’4” junior wingman Justin Kurtz playing the post often in the game, those big 6’7” and 6’8” Marshall boys must have thought they were playing against a much taller squad at times even though they did dominate the glass. Late in the second quarter, the Buffs pulled away to a 45-29 lead at the half, their largest lead of the game, I believe. The confident Buffs knew they could win the game. At times they acted as if they were just toying with the Falcons, assured that they could pull away whenever they wished. But they could not pull away. The unheralded Falcons refused to let them. Hard play and determination at both ends of the court enable the Falcons to outscore the Buffs 23 to 19 in the third quarter. Sophomore Kendrell Thompson shook off any early game jitters he might have had and went to work scoring 12 points in the second half. At the end of 3 the Falcons were down by 12, 64-52. Still not out of reach. In the fourth quarter it was time to pull out all the stops for both teams. It was fun to watch. The Buffs could score at will but the Falcons, with their deliberate, focused attack, could also score. Lake chiseled away at their imposing opponents until they narrowed the gap down to 3 points with just over 3 minutes remaining when Armie Lewis coolly hit a 2 pointer. Lake outscored the Buffs 23 to 20 in the fourth quarter. Wow! This against what is supposed to be the third best team in the state at this juncture. Wonder what that means about the Lake squad. One sure thing it means is the Falcons appear to play better under pressure. The Buffs won the game 84 to 75 but they knew they had some very formidable competition tonight. The Marshall Buffalos are a better team than the Falcons, maybe even good enough to win the region and go all the way. It’s always fun to watch a team as talented as that. The Clear Lake Falcons announced tonight that they are a team to be reckoned with though. This is not just a rebuilding year as some expected. The play from the Falcons was impressive. Sophomore Armie Lewis was supposed to be intimidated going up against David Devizen, the best guard in the region and one of the top guards in the state. He wasn’t. As you watched he grew from the experience. Rock solid Gordon Abner, Lake’s “go to guy” led all scorers with 21 points despite going scoreless in the first quarter. Four Lake players scored in double figures. Against a very quick team turnovers were a problem but you sense it will be corrected. Free throws are an area for improvement but we knew that because of the scrimmages. That also will be corrected. It is going to be an exciting season with many great games thanks to a team that is already better than they should be according to some people. Scoring for the Falcons was as follows: Gordon Abner 21, Justin Kurtz 16, Brandon Wynn hit 4 3’s for 12, Kendrell Thompson 12, Armie Lewis 8, Mark Murphy 3, Lee Mazurek 2, Jordan Villarreal 1. The Falcons unofficially went 20 of 28 from the free throw line. (Stats on the stat page are incomplete).