Taller, longer Danville squad edges Cloverdale by 11

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

DANVILLE — The Cloverdale Clover boys basketball team traveled to Danville to take on the Class 3A No. 8 Warriors on Saturday afternoon.

The Clovers were not able to defeat Danville as the bigger, more athletic Warriors defeated them 68-57 to drop the Clovers to 13-5 on the season. Cloverdale has now lost to Terre Haute South twice, Edgewood, Linton-Stockton as well as the Warriors. The common theme is that all of those teams are in the top 80 in the state in the Sagarin ratings. Tough scheduling is something the Clovers do to ensure they are ready for the state tournament.

“We want to schedule this way. We do this by design and it will help us when we get to the tournament. Danville is a really good team, but make no mistake about it, we came here for a win. There are no moral victories in that locker room,” Cloverdale head coach Patrick Rady said.

The Warriors, who started a lineup of two 6-6 players and one each at 6-5, 6-3 and 6-0.

Danville employed a specialty defense that focused two defenders on the state’s leading scorer, Jalen Moore, while the others scrambled to in a zone defense.

Their athleticsm made it possible to bother shots from everywhere. Cloverdale was only able to convert 40 (16-of-47) percent of their field goals, and hit just 6-of-20 from behind the arc.

“They are really long and they took some things away from us. We will go back and look at the tape and see what we can do about it,” Rady said.

Cloverdale got off to a quick start. Jake Kelley hit two treys to start the game. Moore hit a free throw to stake the Clovers to a 7-0 lead. Cloverdale was able to maintain a lead to the end of the quarter and went to the first stoppage with a 16-11 lead.

Danville began to chip away in the second quarter. The inside/outside combination of Alec Burton and Connor Jones combined for 12 points as they closed within two points at the intermission, 28-26.

“We did a good job defensively, most of the time. We lost Jones a few times and that hurt. That is what we’ve got to understand, against good teams you can’t play well most of the time. Those little mistakes will cost you against a team like this,” Rady said.

The Warriors were able to get their running game going in the third quarter as they outscored the Clovers 21-11 to get a 47-39 lead. Jones hit three from downtown and the Warriors were able to limit the Clovers to just three field goals.

Danville maintained its lead in the fourth quarter, despite the fact that Moore had 15 of his team-high 36 points in the final stanza. Danville couldn’t pull away as the guard continually drew fouls against the double team.

“We did some things well, but we have to get better as we go along. Our defensive intensity was good. We will grow from this game,” Rady said.

Jones led the Warriors with 25 points, Burton had 17 for Danville. Moore was the only Clover in double figures with 36.

The Clovers will defend their Putnam County title, opening with North Putnam in the Putnam County Classic on Thursday.

CLOVERDALE (57) – Winders 1-6 0-0 2, Watts 2-10 0-0 6, Wilkes 3-7 0-0 7, J. Kelley 2-3 0-1 6, Moore 8-20 19-21 36, N. Kelley 0-1 0-0 0, Miller 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-47 FG, 19-22 FT, 57 TP.

DANVILLE (68) – Burton 7-13 3-4 17, Jones 7-9 7-8 25, Hiland 1-7 1-2 4, Ware 2-4 1-3 5, Comer 2-8 2-2 7, Thompson 3-7 1-2 7, Roof 1-3 0-0 3, Stevens 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-52 FG, 15-21 FT, 68 TP.

Cloverdale 16 12 11 18 — 57

Danville 11 15 21 21 — 68

3-Point Shooting — CHS 6-21 (Winders 0-3, Watts 2-6, Wilkes 1-2, J. Kelley 2-3, Moore 1-6, N. Kelley 0-1) DHS 7-13 (Jones 4-4, Hiland 1-5, Comer 1-2, Roof 1-2). Rebounds – CHS 25 (Winders 5, Watts 1, Wilkes 3, J. Kelley 2, Moore 10, Miller 2) DHS – 38 (Burton 12, Jones 6, Hiland 1, Ware 4, Comer 3, Thompson 4, Roof 1) FG Pct. – CHS 34.0, DHS 44.2. FT Pct. – CHS 86.4, DHS 71.4. Turnovers – CHS 9, DHS 7.

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