CL Hawk Freshman Have Teeth Pulled at Dentist in Win over Llano, 33-16
Rylee Spaulding scoring from the charity stripe in Hawk win over Llano, 33-16 (photo by Karen Holmes)
CL Freshman basketball team finally broke the dam scoring 15 points in the 4th quarter in beating Llano, 33-16.
“We did not play well and played down to our competition,” Head Freshman Coach Javier Almanza recalled. “But our good defense helped us win this game.”
Scoring points was not an easy task with this 11am start before a Thanksgiving break but Canyon Lake would finally finish their task with a win.
Shooting just one for 13 in the first quarter started what would be a trip to the dentist office in getting some teeth pulled.
The basketball was too large for the basket for much of this game as CL had a 25% shooting percentage in the first half that had Llano with a one point advantage, 13-12.
In the first quarter, Canyon Lake scored their first goal with half the quarter already spent and that basket would be the first for the game. Benjamin Rowe found Nicolas Rivera cutting to the basket for that first tooth being pulled.
This dentist patient still had most of his teeth as scoring was not an easy thing to accomplish in this contest.
Young Life is Proud of Hawk Freshman
On the flip side, the Yellowjackets did not have any teeth for their dentist to pull as Llano could only get 5 shots off to start the game as a turnover became plural, spurring a flurry of miscues by CL’s opponent.
The Yellowjackets were shooting like they had a Straightjacket with not much of a chance of escaping as this game continued into the second half.
The Hawks would take a slim margin into the 4th quarter leading, 18-16 as the dismal shooting continued.
This CL Freshman team finally found a basket they liked while outscoring Llano by 15 points in that final quarter for an eventual win.
There was several aspects of this game that came to light as the casual observer would note how easy CL found going to the basket would be even with all of those misses.
Canyon Lake had a double figure scorer in Nicolas Rivera: 16 points double figure stealer in Zachary Griffin: 10 steals double figure rebounder in Rylee Spaulding: 11 rebounds and a good assist player in Benjamin Rowe: 6 assists
Twelve of the 13 made shots came from a Hawk passing to an open player for a score. This is a phenomenal statistic that is not seen by many if any team. A lofty 92% assist to basket ratio will go a long way for more victories this year.
Griffin finished with 5 assists while Damien Nichols finished off washing the dishes with one assist while scoring from long range with a 3 pointer.
Drayton Adams teamed up with Rivera scoring his points in that last frame for the final score.
Go Hawks
Great defense coupled with what will be a good offense is in the future as that was evident in holding a team scoreless the final quarter.
The towering Spaulding was able to swat at some Yellowjackets in hindering shots at their basket, finishing with double digit rebounds.
“Our offense was not moving the ball around which caused us to put up some forced shots,” Spaulding said tactfully. “When we started running our defense that team (Llano) could not drive to the basket.”
Griffin had the ability to hassle the Yellowjackets as Llano had trouble getting their offense in gear as most of their possession had the ball taken (stolen) from them.
“I have to work with my feet and I can know where they are passing the ball by watching their eyes,” Griffin said like an optometrist. “They became super tired and our energy would help us finish at the end of the game.”
Rivera scored 12 points in that decisive final 8 minutes as he would score the only basket without another Hawk getting an assist when he lofted a shot beyond the arc at the 4:45 mark that had CL with their first double digit lead, 27-16.
“We knew we needed to win and just make our shots,” Rivera said. “We just couldn’t finish but then we started making our shots and that finally gave us confidence.”
A tough day at the dentist but those dentures looked good for those bright smiles after the win.
Go Hawks!!
1 2 3 4 Final Llano Freshman 2 10 4 0 16 CL Hawks Freshman 3 8 7 15 33 3pt tot rebounds fgm-fga fgm-fga ftm-fta pts or-dr tot a s b to Damien Nichols 1-2 1-1 0-0 3 0-0 0 1 2 0 2 Seth Moss 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 2 Brandon Powers 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-0 1 0 0 0 1 Drayton Adams 1-2 0-1 1-3 3 1-0 1 0 0 0 2 Zachary Whitaker 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Benjamin Rowe 2-11 1-5 0-0 5 2-1 3 6 4 0 5 Zachary Griffin 1-10 0-0 0-0 2 1-4 5 5 10 0 4 Nicolas Rivera 7-15 2-4 0-0 16 1-2 3 0 2 1 1 Rylee Spaulding 1-4 0-0 2-6 4 5-6 11 0 1 0 1 totals 13-45 4-11 3-9 33 11-13 24 12 21 1 18 percentages 29% 36% 33%
