Clovers see positives despite loss in opener

Monday, November 27, 2017
Cloverdale’s Jalen Moore (34) draws multiple defenders and makes a pass underneath against Terre Haute South on Saturday night.
Banner Graphic/JOEY BENNETT

Moore scores 42 in 92-65 defeat

TERRE HAUTE — When Patrick Rady added his alma mater, Terre Haute South, to this year’s Cloverdale boys’ basketball schedule he knew what he wanted to accomplish.

To defeat one of the state’s top programs, one featuring six players taller than anyone on his bench, wouldn’t be impossible — but also wouldn’t be very likely.

The Braves won 92-65 in an outcome that surprised few observers, but Rady and the Clovers found a lot of positives to take away from their season opener.

“I thought our hands were really active on defense,” Rady said. “If we can control the positioning part, we will get more steals out of that. After the first quarter, we did a better job of adjusting to their height and tried to get bodies on guys.

“We did a better job as the game went along.”

Also not surprisingly, the Clovers were led in scoring by senior guard Jalen Moore — who had his second-highest career scoring game with 42. Moore had 48 against Danville last season.

Moore hit 13 of 31 shots from the field, including 4 of 9 from 3-point range, and also cashed in on 12 of 13 free throw attempts

Rady was pleased with the shots the rest of his team got, even though they only resulted in 23 additional points.

“We missed some shots that we have been making in practice,” Rady said. “That may be the speed of the game, which is why we wanted to play Terre Haute South going into the season. When you get sped up like that, it’s tougher. We got some good looks, but Jalen hit the gaps and gave guys some good shots.”

South jumped out to an 11-5 lead, scoring two straight baskets on putbacks, and increased that advantage to 18-8 on another putback with 1:49 left in the period. The Braves led 25-12 at the first stop.

Moore started the second period with a basket, followed by a steal and a layup, to bring the Clovers within nine at 25-16.

South increased that lead to 34-19 midway through the second quarter.

Moore picked up his second foul with 3:38 left in the first half, but was able to avoid further foul trouble.

South led 44-25 at the half, before Moore really got going.

The sneaky lefty had 13 of his team’s 18 points in the period, coming on an variety of free throws, 3-pointers and drives to the basket.

Unfortunately for the Clovers, South was even hotter to start the second half. Indiana State-bound De’Avion Washington scored his team’s first six points of the half and had 12 in the quarter.

South increased its lead to 57-27 and 69-37 before leading 73-43 at the final stop.

Moore scored the first 12 Clover points of the fourth period, and got help from several teammates as the Clovers won the final period by a 22-20 margin.

Along with the positives for Cloverdale, there were also areas needing attention that showed up.

“A lot of them were in defensive positioning,” Rady said. “When we did close out, we closed out too long and allowed some drives. We didn’t rotate too well when we allowed drives.”

Rady said those defensive factors will be a focus this week, as the Clovers get ready to open Western Indiana Conference play on Friday at Edgewood and have their home opener on Saturday against Southmont.

His team lost both of those games last season.

“To beat good teams, you have to be able to make them shoot contested shots,” he said. “They had too many uncontested shots, but they were very unselfish and moved the ball really well. Their spacing was outstanding, and it took us a while to get used to that.”

CLOVERDALE (65) – N. Kelley 2-7 1-4 6, Winders 1-4 2-2 5, Watts 1-6 1-2 3, Wilkes 3-7 1-2 9, Moore 13-31 12-13 42, J. Kelley 0-1 0-0 0, Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Sims 0-1 0-0 0. 20-58 FG, 17-21 FT, 65 TP.

TERRE HAUTE SOUTH (93) – Deckard 1-2 0-0 2, Porter 4-12 1-2 11, Logsdon 6-8 2-2 16, Bender 2-4 0-0 4, Washington 8-13 6-7 24, Turner 6-8 0-0 15, McCoskey 4-6 0-0 10, Cotton 0-0 0-0 0, Hanes 2-5 2-2 6, Johnson 1-1 1-2 3, Reddy 1-1 0-0 2. 35-60 FG, 12-15 FT, 93 TP.

Cloverdale 12 13 18 22 — 65

T.H. South 25 19 29 20 — 93

3-point goals — C 8-24 (Moore 4-9, Wilkes 2-4, N.Kelley 1-4, Winders 1-3, Watts 0-4), THS 10-16 (Turner 3-4, Porter 2-3, McCoskey 2-3, Logsdon 2-2, Washington 1-3, Bender 0-1). Rebounds — C 21 (Wilkes 7, Team 5), THS 38 (Porter 8, Hanes 7, Turner 5). Steals — C 12 (Moore 6); THS 9 (McCoskey 2, Johnson 2). Blocks — C 0, THS 7 (Porter 4). Turnovers — C 12, THS 18. Total fouls — C 17, THS 19. Technical fouls — Moore; Turner..

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