Blasczyk, Randle named to All-Tournament team
   Friendswood head coach Darren Chandler knew that his team had the talent to challenge for the 21st annual Alvin Noon Lion's Club Holiday Classic basketball tournament. Dominated by mostly 5A schools, the Mustangs accepted the challenge and came away with a 65-57 win over 5A Fort Bend Kempner in the finals to become the 2007 tournament champions. Friendswood used the win to also mark their 10th anniversary when they won the tourney in 1997 under another regime.
   However - this win puts the mark of this current coaching staff and team that accomplished a great feat. This marks the second tournament that the Mustangs have won after capturing the Burger King of Texas tournament in Corpus Christi a couple of weeks ago.
   Friendswood was the only 4A team that advance to the Gold bracket after emerging out of Pool play with a perfect 2-0 mark with wins over DeRidder, Louisiana (31-36) and Spring Woods (60-50). There were two other brackets (silver and bronze) for the teams that didn't win their Pool leaving them to play for the consolation prizes.
   "This was a total team win," Chandler said. "Everyone of the guys contributed throughout the tournament. We got great play from the bench."
   The Mustangs came out strong in the first quarter against Kempner to grab a 10-8 lead, but the early part of the second quarter belonged to the Cougars as they built a 13-point lead with the score 27-14 following a 19-4 run.
   With just over two minutes remaining in the second period, Chandler sent in five fresh legs to finish out the frame.
   The move turned out to be a shift in momentum as the 'Stangs went on a 7-0 run capped off by a crowd-pleasing, team-stirring dunk by junior Andre Gautreaux at the buzzer to close the gap to 27-21 at intermission.
   Kempner came out hot early in the third quarter seeing to grab the momentum back with a 12-point lead at 39-27.
   But the Mustangs forged another scoring surge late in the third led by Drew Branch who scored on two layups and dished out a scoring assist to pull Friendswood to within four points 42-38 entering the final eight minutes of action.
   The fourth quarter belonged to the Mustangs as Nathan Harvey hit two back-to-back 3-pointers that put Friendswood in the lead for good.
   The All-District placekicker knows the importance of three points as he kicked a key fourth quarter field goal against 4A state semifinalist Dayton this season to help the Mustangs to a 31-28 win over the Broncos.
   Instead of using his leg, Harvey used his right arm to loft two bombs that hit nothing but net while also adding another field goal on three straight possessions to give Friendswood a 52-47 lead with a little over four minutes left in the game.
   That's all the 'Stangs needed as TCU signee James Blasczyk scored 11 of his 15 points in the final four minutes to overcome the 12-point deficit as the Mustangs outscored the Cougars 27-15 in the final stanza to post the 65-57 win for the championship.
   Branch finished with a team-high 16 points, four assists, two steals, and four rebounds while Randle added 11 with two steals and five assists. Brandon McClain had four points and five rebounds. Cody Bergeson had six points and Cameron McClain had two points.
   Blasczyk and Bryon Randle were both named to the All-Tournament team. Blasczyk averaged 11.6 points per game during the tournament while Randle averaged 8.4. But their presence on offense and defense helped lead the charge for the Mustangs.
   "I felt that Drew Branch also deserved All-Tournament honors," Chandler said. "He really stepped up at crunch time in a couple of games that was the difference in our winning or losing."
   Friendswood beat FB Marshall (59-57) and FB Austin (57-54) on the way to the tournament throne room. The win over Kempner in the finals was the third Fort Bend school that the 'Stangs beat with all three in the Gold bracket.
 
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