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Cloverdale defeats Rockville on senior night, 66-58
Seniors honored to play for Rady, Clovers
CLOVERDALE -- Both Kade Schroer and Kedrick Collett have played fours years of Cloverdale High School basketball. They started before they could ever remember and for both it is something they will never forget.
Playing under Coach Pat Rady and for Cloverdale has been a blessing to them.
"It is fantastic (to play under Rady)," Collett said, "He is a very prestigious coach and it is an honor. To play here is amazing. It has a wonderful tradition here and it is just great. To go out with a win on my last night feels awesome. We knew it was going to happen at some point playing our last game, but to go out with a win is an honor."
Schroer has the same mind as Collett and he is very humbled by his experience at Cloverdale.
"It's an honor. It's something special (under Rady)," Schroer said, "Not every player has a chance to play for a hall of famer like we do. There is no word to describe how unbelievable it is to be able to play for this team. It is pretty sad knowing it is over, but walking away with a win makes it all better."
Just like the players, Coach Rady has had a bond with his young men.
"You always hate to see seniors leave," Rady said, "They become part of your family. They went through some tough years and now they're getting paid for it with a good year. They have done certain things this year that have been very important.
"The two 'K' boys have been very special," Rady added. "They were our captains this year. The team said at the beginning of the year that they wanted our seniors to be the leaders. The players wanted them to be captains and we are very proud of them. It has been a pleasure coaching them. They went through some tough times with the same demeanor and now they are getting a good year. They always work hard and do everything they can and it's great to have players like that."
Schroer plans to attend Lincoln Tech after this year to become a diesel technician and Kedrick plans to attend Indiana State University and study business administration.
CLOVERDALE -- The two Cloverdale seniors played their final home, high school basketball game Tuesday night.
Although visiting Rockville put a scare into them for a while, Kade Shroer, Kedrick Collett and their teammates got the win against Rockville, 66-58.
The Clovers (19-1 5-0 WCC) started out like a normal day and went full court on the Rox (12-9 4-3 WRC) offense, but an unexpected turn of events played out.
Rox junior point guard Keiontre Wilkey took the ball directly to the rim and scored easily on the first play.
Cloverdale did not risk a second attack and quickly went to a man-to-man or zone defense. Wilkey was too good with the ball and if no one protected the lane for the Clovers it was an easy score.
The Clovers occasionally mixed in a press, but Wilkey had no problems breaking it. Luckily for the Clovers, he only went 5-of-17 from the field.
"Wilkey is flat out good," Clovers' coach Pat Rady said, "You can't press him. We had to play half court defense tonight. That has been a trouble for us this year. We had to switch it up. You can't stop Wilkey and the ball had eyes. When he would drive he could get the ball out of his hands to another guy under the basket. Rockville is a very good ball club."
Over the past few games Cloverdale has had a rebounding issue. Junior Branston Scott has been piling up nearly a third or more of his team's rebounds per contest and that is the way Tuesday went as well.
It was especially a factor in the first half, as the Rox grabbed a 29-26 lead at the half.
The Rox had 12 offensive rebounds which helped lead to 60 shots. The Clovers only had 54 shots. Rockville also made four more shots than Cloverdale, 26 to 22.
"They were such a good rebounding team," Rady said, "We're not very big. If you take a look at it they're bigger than us. That was a big part of it. We're pretty much a small team against anyone we play."
It was the free throws that lifted the Clovers over the Rox. They made 16-of-20 from the line and Rockville could only knock down 3-of-13.
Schroer hit 3-of-4 in the final minute to help seal victory on his senior night.
"Free throws are always important," Rady said, "We have to practice them and in the last few minutes I thought we did well. We did our delay game and we hit a couple baskets and it also got us into the bonus and especially when we were in the double bonus, we were just going to let them foul us."
Even with a 19-1 record, most observers do not consider the Clovers a lock to win Sectional 44 at South Putnam. They play sectional co-favorite Speedway (12-6) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5 in first round action.
At Cloverdale
Rockville 11 18 12 17 -- 58
Cloverdale 17 9 16 24 -- 66
Rockville (58): Wilkey 14, Hopkins 12, Leach 11, Brown 7, Paddock 7, Laney 6, Thurman 1. Totals 26-50 3-13 58.
Cloverdale (66): Moore 21, Scott 15, Neese 13, Collett 10, Schroer 7, Fislar 0. Totals 22-54 16-20 66.
Individual Rebounding
Rockville (12-21)33: Leach 10, Laney 7, Hopkins 6, Brown 5, Wilkey 3, Paddock 1, Thurman 1.
Cloverdale (7-20)27: Scott 12, Collett 5, Schroer 5, Neese 3, Moore 2.
Assists Rox 4 CHS 6. Blocks Rox 2 CHS 5. Steals Rox 2 CHS 3. Turnovers Rox 9 CHS 5. 3-pt M-ATT Rox 3-9 CHS 6-19.