News and Announcements
Why was Connor's dunk in the Milby game not allowed?
Posted by Donald Wilkerson at Nov 30, 2003 4:00PM PST
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The most recent rules changes which took effect this season further defined basket interference to include when a player pulls down a movable ring so that it contacts the ball before the ring returns to its original position. Since that is what happened, the basket was not allowed.
Justin Kurtz has been moved to the JV to allow more playing time for him. Justin is certainly a varsity level player but he deserves more playing time. He should be a strong asset to the JV squad.
Freshman Armie Lewis has been moved to the Varsity.
Falcons Fall to State's #1 Team
Posted by Donald Wilkerson at Nov 28, 2003 4:00PM PST
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The Clear Lake Falcons Varsity hung tough for three quarters against the Texas 5A #1 ranked Milby Buffalos in the Saturday 2 p.m game. Always a positive force when he is in the game, Dan Rieke's return from injured status was not enough of a boost for the Falcons as they were defeated by their long standing rivals by a score of 62-41. The game was close during the first half with the Buffs being up 27-20. At the end of the 3rd quarter Milby led by only 6 with the score at 42-36 so the Falcons were still in it. But the stout defense of the Buffs combined with strong second half offensive performances from McClellan (18 total points) and Posey (12 points) and noticeable team quickness proved too much for the Falcons as they were held to only 5 points in the fourth quarter while the nationally ranked Milby squad (#22 nationally) racked up 20. Jawann McClellan was impressive as expected but the Lake defense, especially Gordon Abner, did a noticeably assertive job of containing McClellan at times. Larry Posey did his job by filling up the paint and making life difficult for Lake's big men when he wasn't moving with the grace of a ballerina with the ball. Scott Oswald led Lake scoring with 10 points. Strength off the bench was not a problem for Lake as their newly revised strategy of substitution worked well for the first 3 quarters but proved ineffective in the late minutes of the game.
Usually the Milby-Lake game would be the first game of the season for both teams but due to a scheduling mix-up, it was the 4th game for the Buffalos and the 8th game for the Falcons. The Buffs did not need any more preparation as they proved they are a force to be reckoned with in the region and in the state. Both teams will continue to improve and it should be fun to watch.
Joining the three CCISD teams for the 71st Clear Creek ISD Classic will be a field including The Woodlands, Texas City, Arlington Martin, Klein Oak, Brazosport, Nacogdoches, LaMarque, Deer Park, Baytown Lee, Chavez, Stoney Point, Livingston, and Dickinson. Lake's first game is Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Clear Creek Girls Gym (Butler Gymnasium) against Livingston. The main gym for the tournament will be the Carlisle Field House at Clear Creek. 
What would it be like to be a referee? by Don W
Posted by Donald Wilkerson at Nov 26, 2003 4:00PM PST
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(by Don Wilkerson)
What would it be like to show up for work every day and have dozens, even hundreds of people in your workplace judging everything you do? That is the job of the school basketball official. It is one of the worst jobs anyone can imagine. These folks do it for the love of the game and for the positive influence they can have on young people while trying to help teach them respect for authority. Very few do it solely for the money.
The problem is there are not enough people who are willing to subject themselves to this torture and ridicule. The Golden Rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you does not seem to apply to basketball officials!
A severe shortage of officials exists. Gee,I wonder why? Why would anyone want that job? In addition, the change to three officials in varsity games only exacerbated the problem. The intent, I believe, was to improve the quality of the officiating by sometimes blending junior officials with senior officials plus having an extra pair of eyes on the court. In addition, it was thought that hurrying the process along by getting less experienced officials to the varsity level would help attract people to become officials. Sometimes this works. The quality of officiating seems to vary from area to area as well. My guess is in the more densely populated areas like Houston, there are proportionately more weak refs due to the greater demand but limited supply. It sure seems so.
Basketball officials are very dedicated. They spend many, many hours in training preparing for a thankless job. Although they do go through extensive training, most of it is on the job training where we get to vocally "grade their paper". I will be the first to admit that I am sometimes harsh toward the officials when they make a stinky call not in my team's favor. We as fans are reminded of the injustice in our lives. We feel our kids are working too hard to be robbed, and in the true spirit of competition, we want to WIN. Nevermind the example we are setting for our young people. Sometimes parents (and zealous fans such as me) in the crowd find it difficult to control their emotions when the ref makes a lousy or not-so-lousy call. Then there are the folks in the crowd who, rather than go to a shrink, pay a few dollars to enter the gym and take out their agression and frustrations on the officials. Too many of us tend to fall into one of these categories sometimes. (These comments are intended to address fans in general, not just Clear Lake fans).
I offer no solution to this dilemma. I only want to point out that the officials are usually doing the best they can. They are not overpaid. There are good ones and there are bad ones just like in every other endeavor. They are rarely partial toward one team despite how it may seem.
Clear Lake fans are not known as the worst fans who ever come into the gym but we are sometimes way up there in the rankings when it comes to the more obnoxious crowds. Perhaps we should remind ourselves that the collective persona or image that we project as Clear Lake fans reflects on our community, our school and our children. Although we haven't had any instances this year of embarassing crowd behavior, the opportunity will surely present itself before the season is over. Now could be the time when we insure that our behavior as a collective body of fans is exemplary.
What would it be like to show up for work every day and have dozens, even hundreds of people in your workplace judging everything you do? That is the job of the school basketball official. It is one of the worst jobs anyone can imagine. These folks do it for the love of the game and for the positive influence they can have on young people while trying to help teach them respect for authority. Very few do it solely for the money.
The problem is there are not enough people who are willing to subject themselves to this torture and ridicule. The Golden Rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you does not seem to apply to basketball officials!
A severe shortage of officials exists. Gee,I wonder why? Why would anyone want that job? In addition, the change to three officials in varsity games only exacerbated the problem. The intent, I believe, was to improve the quality of the officiating by sometimes blending junior officials with senior officials plus having an extra pair of eyes on the court. In addition, it was thought that hurrying the process along by getting less experienced officials to the varsity level would help attract people to become officials. Sometimes this works. The quality of officiating seems to vary from area to area as well. My guess is in the more densely populated areas like Houston, there are proportionately more weak refs due to the greater demand but limited supply. It sure seems so.
Basketball officials are very dedicated. They spend many, many hours in training preparing for a thankless job. Although they do go through extensive training, most of it is on the job training where we get to vocally "grade their paper". I will be the first to admit that I am sometimes harsh toward the officials when they make a stinky call not in my team's favor. We as fans are reminded of the injustice in our lives. We feel our kids are working too hard to be robbed, and in the true spirit of competition, we want to WIN. Nevermind the example we are setting for our young people. Sometimes parents (and zealous fans such as me) in the crowd find it difficult to control their emotions when the ref makes a lousy or not-so-lousy call. Then there are the folks in the crowd who, rather than go to a shrink, pay a few dollars to enter the gym and take out their agression and frustrations on the officials. Too many of us tend to fall into one of these categories sometimes. (These comments are intended to address fans in general, not just Clear Lake fans).
I offer no solution to this dilemma. I only want to point out that the officials are usually doing the best they can. They are not overpaid. There are good ones and there are bad ones just like in every other endeavor. They are rarely partial toward one team despite how it may seem.
Clear Lake fans are not known as the worst fans who ever come into the gym but we are sometimes way up there in the rankings when it comes to the more obnoxious crowds. Perhaps we should remind ourselves that the collective persona or image that we project as Clear Lake fans reflects on our community, our school and our children. Although we haven't had any instances this year of embarassing crowd behavior, the opportunity will surely present itself before the season is over. Now could be the time when we insure that our behavior as a collective body of fans is exemplary.
