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Double figures for three Clovers net a win
TERRE HAUTE -- The Cloverdale Clovers claimed fifth place in their first ever Pizza Hut Classic after knocking off the Casey-Westfield Warriors 65-62 in a nail biter.
"We persevered. We were running on fumes a little bit and Casey is a good ballclub," Cloverdale head coach Pat Rady said.
Cloverdale got off to a very slow start in the first quarter. Trailing by as many as eight in the period the Clovers trailed by six at the end of the period 18-12.
The Clovers were not playing poorly, they were getting good looks and they were playing well on defense the shots just were not falling and they were for the Warriors. The Clovers shot under 40 percent from the court in the first quarter but in the second and third quarters shot started to drop. In those two quarters they were 16-for-26.
The Clovers took over the lead midway through the second and did not relinquish it. The Clovers never led by more than four the whole game but never gave up the lead in the second half.
The Warriors got inside in the first half easily with senior Cody Hollensbe, who scored eight points in the first quarter en route to a high for the Warriors with 18. The Clovers stopped the penetration in the second half, though, and made the Warriors shoot jumpers.
"We switched up defenses. They thought that they were in rhythm and we changed defenses on them," Rady said.
The game was in Clover control until the very end when they almost let it slip off the end of their fingertips but senior Marquise Moore made sure that would not happen.
With five seconds left in the game and up by three, Cloverdale had the ball underneath Casey-Westfield's basket and with sophomore Cooper Neese triple teamed, Moore broke deep.
Senior KJ Coleman threw the ball just a little too far and Moore was off to the races to make sure it did not go out-of-bounds, in which case it would have been Warrior ball right under their basket.
"Marquise hustled and got it for us," Rady said.
"I had to get it. I just thought that I had to get it. I had to get the ball. I could not let it go out of bounds," Moore said.
Moore hustled the ball down and stopped it from going out with a huge leap that sent him into the stands. The ball was batted back to his brother Jalen Moore who was fouled with two seconds left to send him to the line. He missed the free throw and the Warriors rebounded it and called a timeout.
Senior Brantson Scott was on the inbounder and the first inbound attempt he batted back and the second the Warriors could not throw deep since Scott is so tall so they had to attempt a three quarter court shot at the buzzer which fell short and gave the Clovers fifth place.
"We were tired and I cannot say enough about the players. I want to thank the Pizza Hut Classic and the Wabash Valley for letting us come in because it was a great experience for the players," Rady said.
"We will remember this for the rest of our lives. We asked the kids before the game win or lose if they wanted to stay and watch the remaining games. They wanted to stay which was a testament to how much they fell in love with this tournament."
At Terre Haute
Cloverdale 12 21 16 16 - 65
Casey-Westfield 18 12 15 17 - 62
Scoring
CLOVERDALE (65) - Neese 8-18 8-8 25, Coleman 7-12 2-2 16, M. Moore 6-10 1-1 14, Scott 4-8 2-2 10, J. Moore 0-1 0-1 0, Lotz 0-0 0-1 0. TOTALS: 25-49 (2-11) 13-15, 65.
CASEY-WESTFIELD (62) - Hollensbe 8-10 2-4 18, Thompson 6-9 0-0 16, Chism 4-8 0-0 9, Lawrence 3-7 1-2 7, Elkins 2-5 0-0 5, Buenzli 2-7 0-0 4, Fisher 1-3 0-0 3. TOTALS: 26-49 (7-17) 3-6, 62.
Rebounding (total-offensive)
CLOVERDALE (23-9) - Scott 8-5, Coleman 8-2, Neese 4-0, M. Moore 2-1, Duff 2-0, Lotz 1-1.
CASEY-WESTFIELD (18-4) - Elkins 7-0, Buenzli 4-2, Chism 2-0, Lawrence 2-1, Fisher 1-0, Thompson 1-0.
Assists: CD 8 (Neese 4), CW (Chism 5). Blocks: CD 4 (Coleman 3), CW 0. Steals: CD 4 (Neese 2), CW 9 (Hollensbe 5)