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Clovers regroup, get ‘season changing’ win
TERRE HAUTE – If you watched the final out of the 2016 World Series, Chicago Cubs’ third baseman Kris Bryant opened up a wide smile from ear to ear as he fielded an infield grounder and threw to first for the final out.
When Cloverdale’s Cooper Neese stepped to the free throw line against Marshall on Wednesday with no time left on the clock, and the score tied 74-74, he displayed a similar smile.
Neese had been fouled with one second left while shooting a 3-point attempt, and only needed to hit one of the three free throws to seal the win.
An 85-percent shooter on the season who would eventually hit all 41 of his free throws in the four-day tourney, Neese swished the first shot to give his team a 75-74 win and allow the Clovers to advance to the consolation bracket championship game.
“I knew it had to be a catch-and-shoot situation and I couldn’t dribble,” Neese said of the final play. “They had been on me all night, and I knew he [Marshall star Josiah Wallace] was going to be right there. It was awesome to know all I had to do was hit the free throw, and they couldn’t get the ball back.”
While Neese provided the heroics at the end, it was Clover junior Jalen Moore who got his team off to a great start and actually led Cloverdale in scoring with 31 points.
Moore had 10 points in the first quarter as Marshall led 17-15 at the first stop. Neese missed all six of his field goal attempts in the period, and bounced back to hit 3 of 6 in the second quarter.
Wallace, a 6-foot-4 senior who led all scorers with 36 points, put the clamps on Neese defensively – although Moore was the beneficiary of open looks and open lanes to the basket.
“Josiah played great for them,” Neese said. “They defended me the best of anyone I’ve played against anybody this year. They were playing to what the refs gave them, playing to what the coaches told them to do.”
Marshall, meanwhile, had a 24-point second quarter keyed by 15 from Wallace to take a 41-30 halftime lead.
As he would eventually do in the consolation championship game the following day, Neese got things going in the third quarter with nine points, while Moore had 10 more.
Still, the Clovers couldn’t get over the hump and trailed 63-49 at the final stop.
It was going to take a monumental team effort to overcome that deficit, and that’s exactly what the Clovers got.
Neese had 12 points in the final period, but got solid support from Moore with five more, two from Jake Wilkes, three from Nick Winders and three from Parker Watts as the Clovers came out firing.
Wilkes and Watts got the first five Clover points, but Wallace and 6-7 freshman Jesse Burdick countered with baskets and Marshall still led 67-54 with seven minutes to play.
Neese hit a pair of free throws and a basket before Moore added a free throws and it was 67-59.
After a Wallace free throw, Winders and Neese hit treys and Neese added a pair of free throws and all of a sudden it was 68-67 Marshall with 4:13 left.
Marshall’s Brock Finkbiner added a basket and Moore countered with a free throw before Wallace hit a basket and two free throws to put Marshall up 74-68 with 2:21 left.
As usual, Neese and Moore stepped up when needed and provided the necessary punch.
A Neese trey with 1:52 left and another by Moore with 59 seconds to go tied the game at 74-74.
The teams traded turnovers, with Marshall being called for a double-dribble violation in the backcourt with one second left. The Clovers then got the ball inbounds to Neese for the game-winning sequence.
“Jalen did a good job of taking reads, and they were so keyed on Cooper that he was big in this game,” Cloverdale coach Patrick Rady said.
Rady was glad his team played a full-court game and was able to push the ball.
“We did that, and that has become our identity – to use the whole court and let the players play in the environment they are comfortable in,” he said. “We were more relaxed in this game. There are different styles for different teams, and this is one that has to play loose.”
The significance of the victory was not lost on Neese.
“This is going to turn the season around for us,” he said. “It was a great win.”
CLOVERDALE (75) – Neese 7-23 11-11 28, Moore 11-21 4-6 31, Wilkes 3-8 1-2 7, Winders 1-2 0-0 3, Pfaff 1-2 0-0 3, Watts 1-3 0-0 3, Rossok 0-0 0-0 0, Miller 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 24-59 FG, 15-19 FT, 75 TP
MARSHALL (74) – Wallace 11-21 8-13 36, Shaffner 7-13 3-3 17, Finkbiner 3-7 0-0 6, Burdick 5-5, Sollars 2-5 0-0 5 Tharp 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-51 FG, 11-12 FT, 74 TP
Cloverdale 15 15 19 26 – 75
Marshall 17 24 22 11 – 74
3-point goals – Neese 3, Moore 5, Wilkes, Winders, Pfaff, Watts, Wallace 6, Sollars.