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Clover fans get big credit for support
When Cloverdale wrapped up its third straight boys’ basketball tournament championship at South Putnam on Saturday night, the Clover players did not immediately start cutting down nets.
They also temporarily bypassed eventual encounters with family members.
Upon receiving the trophy following their 74-61 win over Monrovia, the Clover players immediately took the hardware to their raucous student section and celebrated with their schoolmates — who were dressed in a tie-dyed theme for the evening.
Senior Cooper Neese was very appreciative of the entire Cloverdale fan section, which dominated the entire half of the gym opposite the team benches.
“Our fans are incredible,” Neese said following Saturday’s game, after which the team and fans had a pep session at the school. “I’m going to go to this pep session and probably cry because it’s one of the last times I’m going to get to play before them. It’s unreal.”
Neese had other options to play his high school basketball. His mother and stepfather live in Avon, a much larger school in a bigger conference.
Jordan Webb, Neese’s stepnephew (his stepfather’s grandson), is a senior at Covenant Christian and also surpassed the 1,000-point career scoring mark.
Yet Neese chose to remain loyal to the high school from which both of his parents graduated — and the community had a lot to do with that decision.
“Most definitely,” he said. “I got to watch my brother [Michael] play here and saw him win a sectional. My dad and my whole family went here and I always heard the stories about how great the Cloverdale people were and the tradition, and I just wanted to be a part of it.
“Cloverdale has the best supporting cast around.”
Cloverdale coach Patrick Rady is in his second year as head coach at the school, after serving as an assistant under his father for several seasons.
The contribution of the fans was also recognized by him, particularly in the sectional championship.
“Our fans are unbelievable,” Rady said. “Our kids love playing for Cloverdale because of the fans. It starts with our cheer block — it’s great. They’re putting out tweets about the theme for the night and encouraging people to come to the games.
“They’ve been with us all year,” he added. “We had a great crowd at every home game and our fans traveled very well. That helped us to be prepared for the tournament atmosphere.”
Monrovia trailed the Clovers by 15 points at halftime on Saturday, but opened the second half on an 8-3 run to cut the lead down to 10.
The Clovers held their ground for a while and got the lead back over 10 points, but Monrovia made another run in the final minutes.
“Some teams when they get into the tourney can’t deal with the loud noise, but our kids are used to it,” Rady said. “In the fourth quarter, when the lead was teetering on getting back under 10, they closed the deal by getting on their feet.
“I can’t say enough about our crowd.”