Edgewood pulls off pair of 3-point wins over Clovers

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Neese’s 37 points still not enough

CLOVERDALE — The Cloverdale High School gymnasium was hot on Friday night. It might have been the large crowd on hand to see the Edgewood Mustangs play the Clovers in Western Indiana Conference play or it might have been the three-point shooting of Cooper Neese in the first half.

Neese hit eight three-pointers in the first half, but the Butler commit’s game-high 37 points were not enough to beat a balanced Mustang team.

The Clovers fell 77-74 in tightly contested matchup.

“He is an outstanding shooter, but right now he is not happy because we lost,” Cloverdale head coach Patrick Rady said. “That tells you all you need to know about Cooper Neese.”

In the first three minutes of the game, Neese hit three from downtown including a four-point play to pace the Clovers to a 12-5 lead, but the Mustangs answered with an 11-2 run and the quarter ended as Jalen Moore hit a layup at the buzzer and Edgewood led 18-16.

Neese’s second quarter was even more impressive than the first. The senior hit five treys in the quarter, including four in a two-minute stretch.

Combined with Moore’s nine points in the quarter, the Clovers took command of the game in the stanza, including a 15-0 run.

Cloverdale led 45-33 at the half.

“It was a game of runs, I thought we played well but we have to execute better. I thought Edgewood executed their situational plays better than we did,” Rady said.

Continuing the game of runs, the Mustangs opened the second half with an 11-1 run to tie the score with 3:53 left in the third. The two teams battled the remainder of the quarter.

With all the attention on Neese and Moore, Jake Wilkes stepped up with five straight points late in the quarter, but Edgwood closed with another 10-2 run.

The Mustangs hit 10-of-16 from the field in the quarter while holding Neese in check. Chayton Howard scored 10 of his 17 points in the third to lead the Mustangs to a 59-56 third-quarter lead.

“I really thought the key tonight was a stretch in the third quarter when they (Edgewood) scored on 10 of 12 possessions. That was big,” Rady said. “We have to play better defense than that. You cannot beat good teams like this when you allow them to score like that.”

The fourth quarter was as entertaining as the first three. Edgewood had maintained its lead and held a four-point lead when the Clovers went on a 9-2 run sparked by a Neese rebound dunk that brought the crowd to its feet.

Cloverdale led 71-66 with 2:44 left to play, but the Mustangs weren’t done. They closed the game by outscoring the Clovers 11-3 over the final two and half minutes.

“You have to defend for 32 minutes. This is a group of kids (Edgewood) that is used to winning. We have got to learn to defend without fouling,” Rady said of a game that saw 46 fouls and 59 free throws.

The Clovers were led by Neese’s 37 points and Jalen Moore added 29, including 15-of-17 from the free throw line.

Edgewood placed four players in double figures. Cooper Bybee led the Mustangs with 26 points. Howard had 17, while Cameron Banister added 12 and Jason Brown chipped in 10 points.

The Clovers fell to 1-1 (0-1 in the WIC) on the young season. They are back in action tonight as they travel to Southmont for a non-conference contest.

EDGEWOOD (77) – Kido 2-3 2-2 7, Banister 4-5 3-3 12, Bybee 6-13 10-12 26, Brown 5-9 0-1 10, Howard 6-12 4-6 17, Norris 0-0 0-0 0, Curtis 0-0 0-0 0, Cowder 2-3 0-1 5, Collier 0-0 0-2 0, Balcam 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-45 FG, 19-27 FT, 77 TP.

CLOVERDALE (74) – Winders 0-2 0-0 0, Wilkes 2-5 0-0 5, Pfaff 0-0 1-2 1, Moore 7-22 15-17 29, Neese 10-21 8-11 37, Watts 0-0 0-0 0, Rossok 0-0 0-0 0, Miller 0-0 2-2 2, Kelly 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-51 FG, 26-32 FT, 74 TP.

Edgewood 18 15 26 18 – 77

Cloverdale 16 29 11 18 – 74

3-point shooting – EHS 8-17 (Kido 1-2, Banister 1-1, Bybee 4-8, Brown 0-1, Howard 1-3, Cowder 1-2), CHS 10-27 (Winders 0-1, Wilkes 1-1, Moore 0-6, Neese 9-18, Watts 0-1). Rebounds – EHS 35 (Kido 3, Banister 2, Bybee 3, Brown 7, Howard 10, Norris 1, Cowder 1, Collier 4) CHS – 27 (Winders 5, Wilkes 3, Pfaff 1, Moore 3, Neese 9, Watts 2, Miller 1, Kelly 1) FG Pct. – EHS 55.6, CHS 37.3. FT Pct. – EHS 70.3, CHS 81.3. Turnovers – EHS 18, CHS 14.

Early 13-2 deficit tough for Clover girls

CLOVERDALE — The Cloverdale girls’ basketball team opened its Western Indiana Conference season slowly Friday night, falling behind 13-2 early but battling back before coming up just short to the Edgewood Mustangs, 39-36.

The Clovers shot just 1-of-15 from the floor in the first quarter as the Mustangs opened up a big lead and looked to run away with the game, but according to head coach Matthew Langdon, the Clovers were not playing poorly.

“The game was kind of determined in the first few minutes,” Langdon said. “We did what we wanted to do, got wide open layups. We just didn’t hit them.”

Cloverdale used a strong second quarter behind Sammie Shrum and Abby Walker. They scored five points each and Cloverdale came back to tie the score late in the half. Edgewood managed to end the half with two free throws and a 20-18 lead.

The Clovers took a brief lead to open the second half on two early baskets but the Mustangs went on a 10-2 run during the period. They hit an efficient 4-of-7 from the field and ended the quarter with a 30-26 lead. Cloverdale’s Tori Combs had six of her team-high 14 points in the quarter.

The fourth quarter saw the two teams trade baskets repeatedly. The Mustangs never trailed in the quarter but could never extend their lead to more than six points.

Every Mustang basket was answered by the Clovers. Combs hit a jumper to tie the score with 2:58 left but Edgewood managed to score the last three points of the game for the win.

“I thought we just improved leaps and bounds in this game. To get behind in this kind of game and environment and fight back was great,” Langdon said. “We just kept coming back and kept battling. As a coach that really pleases me.”

Combs led the Clovers with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Serenah Morris led Edgewood with a game-high 18 points and pulled down 14 boards.

Cloverdale only shot 32 percent from the field in the game but its defense held Edgewood to 34 percent as well.

“We shot a field goal percentage that should have gotten us beat by 20 points, but we overcame that,” Langdon said.

Cloverdale fell to 6-3 on the season and 0-1 in WIC Eastern division play. Edgewood improved to 8-2 on the season and 1-0 in conference play.

The Clovers are back in action Tuesday night as they travel to Eminence for a non-conference game.

EDGEWOOD (39) – Phillips 2-7 0-1 5, Morris 7-13 4-5 18, P.Acuff 1-6 2-4 5, Shockney 1-8 1-2 3, T.Acuff 3-6 0-1 6, Meyer 1-2 0-0 2, Bennett 0-1 0-0 0, Zemlyak 0-1 0-0 0, Pace 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-44 FG, 7-13 FT, 39 TP.

CLOVERDALE (36) – Shrum 1-11, 2-4 5, Thomas 2-8 0-0 4, Walker 1-6 2-2 5, Combs 7-13 0-0 14, Helterbrand 1-2 0-0 2, Price 1-2 0-0 2, Meek 1-1 0-0 2, Shoemaker 0-0 0-0 0, McCracken 0-1 2-4 2. Totals 14-44 FG, 6-10 FT, 36 TP.

Edgewood 13 7 10 9 – 39

Cloverdale 2 16 8 10 – 36

3-point shooting – EHS 2-11 (Phillips 1-5, P. Acuff 1-1, Shockney 0-5), CHS 4-15(Shrum 1-4, Thomas 0-4, Walker 1-4, Combs 0-1). Rebounds – EHS 27 (Phillips 1, Morris 14, P. Acuff 1, Shockney 1, T. Acuff 5, Zemlyak 1, Pace 1) CHS – 38 (Shrum 11, Thomas 1, Walker 2, Combs 13, Price 4, Meek 1, McCracken 1, Helterbrand 2) FG Pct. – EHS 34.1, CHS 31.8. FT Pct. – EHS 53.8, CHS 60.0. Turnovers – EHS 17, CHS 22.

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