Basketball: CL Hawks Split in their Road Game in Blanco
Junior Varsity Finish Strong in 15 point win, 50-35.
Canyon Lake Boys Basketball split their games on Tuesday in Blanco as the season starts to evolve.
For this year’s basketball there is one common bond which would revolve around not having a lot of practices and integrating the football players in that same span.
The Lake’s Junior Varsity Started their game with a quick lead and then for the first half found the Hawks trying to find an identity.
“Our defensive effort was our number one goal,” Head JV Coach Ryan Garney said. “There was a lot of make things up as we go tonight based on how many practices and new players (football) we have added since Monday.”
CL started the contest with a quick 6 point lead and then the Panthers erased that lead and forged a one point lead to start the game, 7-8 for Blanco JV. Those first 6 points took 2 minutes to acquire and then a cold spell entered the Blanco gym and the home team outscored the Hawks 19-9 and a 4 point lead going into half-time.
The Free Throw was a painful experience after a 3 for 16 shooting first half which the Hawks petitioned the Officials for a point if a free throw shot just hit the rim.
Aaron Hoffman, with 2:32 left in the game was able to pull off making two free shots on his one trip to the line. Those two free shots raised the Hawks shooting percentage from 19% to 28% to finish the game.
“Coaches are wanting me to help teach the team from the line,” Hoffman said while working on his free throw fundamentals. “I just keep my elbow in and follow through.”
Such a simple concept as this one aspect in this round-ball game would have taken any doubt on the favorite early in this contest as just hitting 50% could have had a 23 or more point win.
Canyon Lake was led by Big Man Matt Taliaferro who finished with a double-double, 15 points and 12 rebounds.
“I couldn’t play without this team and we have a really good Coach,” Taliaferro said reverently. “We played hard and fought through it.”
Jeremy Greene joined Taliaffero scoring 11 points that helped add on for the Hawk win.
That they did as a game that was in doubt turned into a 15 point whitewash.
The Hawks turned up their pressure defense helped reverse that first half doldrums after finishing the game with a 35 point 2nd half while giving up 16 points to the host team.
During the 2nd Half the Hawks were able to turn their pressure defense into points and took a still close game to start the 4th quarter (30-28) into a more comfortable finish.
Guard play by Mikey Carrizales was one of those players that caught fire those last minutes with 3 assists and a steal all wrapped up in a 3 minute span that iced (not the free throws) the game.
“I saw an open guy and threw him the ball,” Carrizales said simply. “They did a good job of getting open and this was a good bounce back game and we will want to win more and compete.”
That last statement was in answering how this game will effect the team as this season matures.
Another good group of players in the Hawk’s pipeline and a good time to come out and support this year’s basketball teams.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Canyon Lake Varsity Could not Climb to the Top in Loss to Blanco, 68-63.
Canyon Lake had too much climbing to overcome as their effort just fell short in this loss to Blanco, 68-63.
“If we could have made our free throws then this would have been a different game,” Head Coach Lucas Chapman stated. “I was proud the way we battled and our bench did great….we learned a lot but we beat ourselves….we have added a lot of bodies and we are still learning and figuring ourselves out.”
Probably one of the best double-double outings since Caleb Kreiger (2013) graced the Hawk’s gym 6 years ago as Senior Rico Griffin pulled off a 20 point/18 rebound night.
“I was proud that we fought back,” Griffin said. “We had some toughness and the bench gave us energy and we fed off of that as it helped us in getting our 2nd wind.”
Griffin was joined by Patrick McAuliffe in scoring double digits after a 13 point evening.
The Hawks started in a hole after falling behind, 2-12 with still 5:487 left on the first quarter clock. By finishing on a 18-12 run to finish that opening stanza.
On a ‘and one’ from a Rylee Spaulding’s 3 pointer the ole fashion way drew CL to a one point deficit, 30-29 with 5 minutes before the half that dreaded cold spell came back to haunt the Visiting Team as this Panther team outscored the Hawks, 13-2 and a what was thought comfortable lead, 43-31.
That same type of game starting the next half when Blanco continued their good shooting night and 13 point lead with 8 minutes to play, 56-43.
Blanco opened the last quarter with another 3 pointer and 16 point lead and sustained that advantage with a 14 point lead with just 5 minutes remaining, 61-47.
That was when the Griffin show heated up and other Hawks rallied for a final push and with forty seconds remaining the Hawks were able to whittle away in having a 3 point deficit, 66-63. But that Panther lead would hold up as Canyon Lake would run out of time.
Go Hawks!!
Varsity 1 2 3 4 Final CL Hawks 20 11 12 20 63 Blanco 24 19 13 12 68 3pt tot rebounds fgm-fga fgm-fga ftm-fta pts or-dr tot a s b to Rico Griffin 10-17 0-1 0-4 20 9-9 18 1 1 0 2 Patrick McAuliffe 5-8 3-4 0-0 13 2-4 6 2 1 0 5 Tyler Pauly 2-3 0-1 0-0 4 0-0 0 3 1 0 3 Ben Rowe 1-7 1-4 0-0 3 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Peyton McMullen 3-6 1-3 1-3 8 1-3 4 0 1 0 0 Pearse McCullagh 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 0 0 1 1 Colton Winters 1-4 0-0 1-2 3 1-0 1 0 1 0 1 Nic Rivera 2-3 1-1 0-0 5 0-0 0 1 0 0 1 Tuff Cantu 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 1-0 1 3 0 0 0 Matt Taliaferro 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 Rylee Spaulding 2-4 0-0 1-3 5 1-4 5 0 1 0 0 Totals 27-57 6-15 3-14 63 15-22 37 10 7 1 13 Percentage 47% 40% 21% 1 2 3 4 Final CL Hawks JV 8 7 15 20 50 Blanco JV 9 10 9 7 35 3pt tot rebounds fgm-fga fgm-fga ftm-fta pts or-dr tot a s b to Austin Bowers 0-3 0-0 0-6 0 2-0 2 0 0 0 2 James Bates 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 1-0 1 0 0 0 1 Christian Ramirez 2-3 0-1 1-2 5 1-1 2 0 2 1 3 Blayne Carnes 0-0 0-0 1-3 1 0-1 1 0 0 0 3 Mikey Carrizales 2-2 0-0 2-5 6 0-2 2 3 4 0 6 Jeremy Greene 5-9 0-0 1-5 11 3-2 5 1 5 1 4 Ashton Montgomery 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-0 1 0 1 0 2 Noe Coronado 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 1 Aaron Huffman 3-8 0-2 2-2 8 1-5 6 0 1 0 2 Joey Cuellar 0-5 0-0 0-0 0 1-0 1 4 2 0 2 Dawson Piela 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 4 0 0 0 0 Matt Taliaferro 7-12 0-0 1-4 15 6-6 12 0 1 2 2 Shawn Pendleton 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2-2 4 0 1 0 1 Totals 21-50 0-3 8-29 50 19-22 41 8 18 4 29 Percentages 42% 00% 28%