Basketball scores

FALCON v. WASSONJan. 26

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Falcon:	7	12	20	18	57
Wasson:	11	15	16	14	56

A week’s rest and a time or two in a whirlpool while recuperating from a thigh injury rejuvenated Paul Rotering. He lit up the scoreboard against Wasson for 21 points, with 5-6 from the charity line and 5 rebounds, as the Falcons outlasted Wasson High 57 to 56. Also in double figures were Kendall Godley with 12 and Kalen Link with 11. Rebounding made a huge difference in this game with Link grabbing 7, Jared Wilson getting 4 and Ryan Wusk doing another good job by pulling down 8 rebounds. The lower turnover rate helped the Falcon’s cause with a drastic drop from a couple of games ago. If they learn to take care of the ball, the rest will usually take care of itself. The Falcons also led Wasson in steals by getting 8 loose balls, which helped their offensive effort.WOODLAND PARK v. FALCONJan. 29

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Falcon:	15	8	12	19	54
Woodland Park:	11	15	9	4	39

A better than average defense proved to be the game winner against Woodland Park, which helped the Falcons get another “W.” The box score tells how the game was played. The Falcons got into foul trouble early in the first and third quarters, which kept WP in the game until midway through the fourth quarter. The swarming Falcon defense allowed WP only 4 points in the fourth quarter, all free throws. In the first half, the Falcons worked the ball pretty well underneath on offense and battled for their rebounds on both ends of the court. However, I thought the Falcons allowed WP too many uncontested layups. Kalen Link fouled out early in the fourth quarter and probably should have fouled out earlier, as he has had a problem keeping his elbows in while rebounding. Paul Rotering was high scorer for the second game in a row, with 18 points to go along with his 9 rebounds and 8 steals. Jared Wilson had 15 points and 5 rebounds. When Link fouled out, Josh Sumrall stepped up with his season high 6 rebounds. Helping the Falcon cause was Zack Franklin with 3 steals.FALCON v. MESA RIDGEFeb. 2

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Falcon:	16	18	10	13	57
Mesa Ridge:	13	11	12	8	44

There is an old adage in sports: You only play as good as the competition. That was the story Feb. 5 when the Falcons played Mesa Ridge to a final score of 57-44. Although the Falcons 57 points were respectful, they scored in spurts. They looked good at times working the ball down under, rebounding and playing a tough defense, but there were too many shots they could not get to fall right under their basket. When MR would hit two or three shots, the Falcons would come back, do the same and then seem to get careless with the ball. At times, when the Falcons would start to pull away, they would miss a pass or two and let MR close the gap that the Falcons worked so hard to build. There were several lead changes early in the game before the Falcons slowly pulled away. At one point in the fourth quarter, they led by as many as 18 points but a late rally by the Grizzlies closed the point spread to the final score. After a couple of subpar games, Jared Wilson was back in the groove, with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Paul Rotering was the other player in double figures, with 12 points and 4 steals. Ryan Wusk had another good game with 9 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Kalen Link looked good with 5 points and 14 big rebounds. Although they didn’t put many points on the board; Kendall Godley, John Herman, Josh Sumrall, Marcus LeVicchi, Kevin Haberkorn and Zack Franklin all had a good rebounding night.John Herman had the shot of the night. As he grabbed an offensive rebound under the basket, he started to lose his balance and was falling backwards. I am sure he had the feeling of helplessness as three or four of the WP players, all 6 feet 3 inches or more, were right on top of him and fighting to get the ball. As a last resort, he somehow managed to throw the ball high in the air to get it over the much taller players – that throw netted 2 points. It was an amazing shot.MITCHELL v. FALCONFeb. 4

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Falcon:	18	21	12	15	66
Mitchell:	23	19	20	20	82

I thought track season was still at least a month away – wrong. I caught a brief shot of it Feb. 4 when the Falcons hosted the Mitchell Marauders. From the initial tip off to the final buzzer, the Marauders never stopped running; and, for most of the time, the Falcons went right with them. The difference in the outcome of the game was the fact that the Mitchell players shot lights out. It didn’t seem to matter if they shot from under the basket, from the charity stripe or from outside the 3-point circle, the majority of them went in. Paul Rotering again showed that he could play with the big boys as he dumped in 19 points to go with his 3-6 three pointers and 6 rebounds. Jared Wilson had another strong game with 16 points and 9 rebounds. The other player in double figures was Ryan Wusk, with 14 points and 5 rebounds. Kalen Link again came on strong in the rebounding department, with 9 to go along with his 7 points. Kendall Godley had a game high 7 assists to go with his 7 points. Juniors Marcus LeVicchi and Josh Sumrall also got into the scoring column. John Herman had 1 assist and Zack Franklin garnered a single rebound. The Falcons shot over .500 from the free throw line which is respectful, but they still need to take better care of the ball with 22 turnovers. The Falcons were only down by 7 at the half but just could not keep up with the Marauders offensive pressure.WIDEFIELD v. FALCONFeb. 9

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Falcon:	15	4	4	42	65
Widefield:	22	15	16	22	75

It was brutal to watch during the middle two quarters, but Falcons lit up the score board for 42 points in the fourth quarter. After checking back through all the games the Falcons have played so far this season, I found they haven’t scored that many points in two quarters. In the first three quarters, the Falcons could not control the ball; thus, 23 turnovers. They could not rebound under their own basket, which didn’t allow for many second-shot opportunities. And they could not control the defense, giving Widefield most of their points right under the bucket. I did not see many good things happening for the Falcons throughout the first three quarters. Things drastically turned around during the fourth quarter. At the start of the fourth, Falcon was behind by a score of 23-53. It appears things heated up. Jared Wilson had another double – double with 24 points and 10 rebounds along with his 3 assists and 4 steals. Paul Rotering had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals and Kendall Godley had 15 points and 6 assists. Rounding out the scoring was Kevin Haberkorn with 4 points, Brody Hicks with 3, John Herman with 2 and Josh Sumrall with 1 point. Marcus LeVicchi chipped in with a steal. I know Coach Ravasdy could not have been happy with the point production in quarters two and three, so maybe he got the boys attention before the start of the fourth.HARRISON v. FALCONFeb. 11

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Falcon:	19	24	18	18	79
Harrison:	13	17	8	5	53

Have you ever felt exhilaration at a baseball game when you hear the crack of the bat and you know that ball is never coming back? Well, the same thing applies in basketball when you know one of the hometown boys is going to try a dunk. The dunk shot was tried three different times by as many athletes during the Falcon/Harrison game. None of the shots went down. Jared Wilson, Paul Rotering and Kalen Link each attempted a wide-open, uncontested dunk that was unsuccessful. It’s one of those plays where everything has to be lined up perfectly to get the ball to go down. I know they can do it, as I have watched all three boys successfully slam that ball with great authority. Even with a miss, the Falcon crowd gets into the game and the opposing team loses some confidence. Harrison came to the Falcon’s home expecting to atone for a 66-49 loss to the Falcons in early January, but the Falcons held the Panthers to single digits in the third and fourth quarters with a good pressing defense. The only thing that kept the score from getting away from Harrison was 21 terrible Falcon turnovers. They play good offense except under pressure, when they seem to lose all sense of direction. Jared Wilson and Paul Rotering again scored in double figures with 23 and 18 points to go with their 7 rebounds apiece. Rotering has about the quickest trigger finger on the Falcon team. It doesn’t take him long to get his shot off when he decides the time is right, and it doesn’t matter if it is a 3-pointer or one inside the paint. Marcus LeVicchi had another good game with 9 points, 4 steals and 3 rebounds. Ryan Wusk, with 5 rebounds, and Zack Franklin, Kendall Godley, Kalen Link, Kevin Habercorn and freshman Brody Hicks all chipped in the scoring spree. Kalen Link finished with 9 game high rebounds.FALCON v. VALOR CHRISTIANFeb. 13

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Falcon:	14	12	14	4	44
Valor Christian:	22	14	14	17	65

When you run up against a team that shoots lights out, you must have a great game, or you probably won’t win. That’s what happened when the Falcons played 15/6 Valor Christian. Valor shot .580 from the 2-point range and almost as good – .560 from the 3-point arch. The Falcons did not rebound them, however. Kendall Godley, Paul Rotering and Jared Wilson all scored in double figures, with Jared grabbing 8 rebounds while Paul had 5. The bench came up a little short in this game by only scoring 4 points total. The bench needs to step up and help out with the scoring.FALCON v. CHEYENNE MOUNTAINFeb. 18

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Falcon:	4	4	22	13	43
Cheyenne Mountain:	15	20	28	18	81

Had I not seen it, I would have found it hard to believe. The 3-point shooting and the long range 2 pointers of Cheyenne Mountain against Falcon was probably the best I have ever seen, and the defense of the Falcons was not that bad. These were not wide-open CM shots. I was sitting beside one of the junior high coaches from CM, and he told me they shoot like this most of the time. He also said if they hit a cold shooting night, they usually do not win as the outside shot is about all they have. That was evident in the first half as I counted 3 baskets inside the paint, so the Falcon defense was doing a good job inside. The Falcons went 10 minutes and 30 seconds in the first half without scoring a point. They had quite a few opportunities right under the bucket but could not get them to drop. It is almost impossible to only score 8 points in one half and expect to be in the ball game. At the time of this writing, the stats for the game were not in. This game was much different than the game between CM and Falcon Jan. 15. That game went into overtime, with CM winning by 4 points. This column does not necessarily represent the views of The New Falcon Herald.