Clovers knock off South Vermillion

Friday, February 10, 2006

CLINTON -- The Cloverdale High School boys' basketball team ended its two-game road show Thursday night with a big win.

The Clovers picked up their second road win in a row Thursday, when they defeated South Vermillion 71-60.

After the first quarter wen Cloverdale outscored the Wildcats 21-10, it looked like it was going to be a typical Cloverdale basketball game, but it wasn't.

The Widlcats came out and set the pace in the second quarter going on a 9-0 run in the first two and half minutes. Cole Milam of South Vermillion started the Wildcats' spurt with seven quick unanswered points and Alex Walsh capped the run with an alley-oop pass from Dexte Dunham for two points, putting the Wildcats within two of the lead at 21-19.

The Clovers finally got on the board when Luke Lovins banked a bucket inside the post.

The Cloves stayed just ahead of the Wildcats until Milham tied the game for South Vermillion with an inside jumper. With about 2:30 to go in the half, Cloverdale went on a little 6-0 spurt to put some distance between them and the Wildcats. Michael Neese started it off after hitting one of his two freebies from the charity stripe after being fouled. Chase Haltom followed up Neese's free-throw with a steal for two points and Kyle McCammon finished the Clovers burst with a three-pointer from downtown. Going into the break the Clovers led 34-29.

The third quarter was a dead lock between the two teams. Neither team could get a jump on the other. Haltom came to life for the Clovers, nailing a big three-pointer 90 seconds into the half only to follow it up with a pass to Craig Blair for three points 90 seconds later. Haltom led the Clovers in assists with five for night.

At the end of the third quarter, both teams had scored 14 points each and it came down to whoever could control the last quarter.

'I told these guys for us to win, they would need 32 minutes of good basketball and we had a good first and last quarter,' CHS Coach Pat Rady said.

The fourth quarter would prove to be the Clovers' best. The Clovers outscored the Wildcats 23-17 in the fourth and their last 12 points were courtesy of Wildcat fouls.

Christian Cheatham scored the last two-point bucket for the Clovers when Haltom laced a pass through the paint to him from the three-point line.

From the 1:44 mark till the end of the game, the Clovers were at the free throw line seven times and went 12-14, sealing the game.

'With about three minutes left we noticed they were one foul away from the bonus and we went into our four corner offense to draw the last foul and put the ball into the hands of our best free throw shooters,' Rady said.

The Clovers are now 13-4 on the season and Rady commented that it was a good follow up win after Speedway for the Clovers.

'It was good team win against a good solid basketball club,' he added 'South Vermillion is a well coached team and they rebound well and they never gave up either.'

The Cloves had four players in double figures at the end of the night. McCammon finished the game with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor and 5-of-6 from behind the three-point line. Haltom scored 13 points and have five assists while Craig Blair came off the bench, chipping 12 points and ripping down nine boards. Cheatham scored 10 points for the Clovers. Lovins put seven points and blocked four shots for Cloverdale while Neese scored seven points aswell.

Cloverdale will be back in action on Tuesday when they host Edgewood a 7:30 p.m.

At South Vermillion

Cloverdale 21 13 14 23 - 71

S. Vermillion 10 19 14 17 - 60

CL - Neese 1 5-6 7, Blair 3 5-6 12, Haltom 4 3-4 13, Faletic 1 0-0 2, Cheatham 5 0-3 10, Trinkle 0 0-0 0, McCammon 7 0-0 19, Cooper 0 0-0 0, Lovins 3 1-2 7, Dean 0 0-0 0. Totals - FG 24-43, FT - 14-21, TP - 71.

SV - Ashby 0 0-0 0, Milham 9 2-2 22, Decker 0 0-0 0, Walsh 3 0-0 8, Walker 6 5-6 17, Peelman 0 0-0 0, Dunham 3 1-4 7, Fisher 0 0-0 0, Montecillo 0 0-0 0, Stevens 0 0-0 0, Alexander 2 0-0 4. FG - 23-51, FT 9-12, TP - 60.

3pt - CL 9 (McCammon 5), SV 2 (Walsh). Rebounds - CL 25 (Blair 8), SV 20 (two players with six each). Steals - CL 4 (Haltom 3), SV 4 (four players with one each). Assists - CL 12 (Haltom 5), SV 6 (Walsh 4). Blocks - CL 4 (Lovins), SV 0. Total Fouls - CL 15, SV 18. Fouled Out - Walker (SV).

Next Game - The Clovers (13-4) are back in action on Tuesday when they host Edgewood at 7:30 p.m.

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