Clovers can't overcome Monrovia height advantage in loss

Cloverdale's Jake Wilkes (24) uses his football instincts to dive for a loose ball against Max Newman of Monrovia on Saturday night.

Banner Graphic/JOEY BENNETT

CLOVERDALE — Overcoming Monrovia's considerable size advantage on Saturday night was a tough chore for the Cloverdale boys' basketball team.

The Bulldog "twin towers" of 6-8 senior Max Newman and 6-7 junior Josh Smith combined for 48 points in a 67-54 win over the Clovers.

Yet, coach Patrick Rady's scrappy squad overcame deficits of 37-19 in the second period and 49-26 in the third period to cut the deficit to 59-48 with 3:58 left.

In the end, however, the Bulldog duo just had too much firepower for Cloverdale, and the Clovers fell to 1-4 on the season — their slowest start since a similar record in 2011-12.

Monrovia made no secret of its plans to get the ball to the Bethel College-bound Newman early and often, as the skilled senior scored eight of his team's first 10 points on the way to an early 10-4 lead.

A steal plus a layup and a putback from Cloverdale's Jake Wilkes narrowed the gap to 12-8, but the Bulldogs closed out the period with seven straight points. Newman had the first basket in that run, while Smith soared high to throw down the first of several dunks and followed with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Cloverdale tried to stay close in the second period by using the long ball, as Parker Watts hit a trey and freshman Kyle Thomas added two more to keep it reasonably close at 30-19 with 3:20 left in the half.

Monrovia got seven more points in a row, before the Clovers ended the half on a Wilkes basket and Jake Kelley trey to trail 37-24 at the intermission.

"There was a situation in the second quarter where we had some bad matchups due to foul trouble, and they took advantage of those," Rady said. "It's the same story ... we dig ourselves too big a hole. We have to find ways to keep from doing that."

Smith had a trey and a pair of free throws to help key a 12-2 start to the second half for Monrovia, increasing its lead to 49-26.

The Clovers began finding success by going straight at the Bulldog big men, with sophomore Walker Sims scoring three baskets in the final two minutes of the period to help his team cut the deficit to 53-38 at the final stop.

Sims has been slowly working his way into the varsity rotation, but drew praise from his coach and undoubtedly earned more minutes as the season progresses.

"That's a case of Walker knowing where he needed to be on the court, and our guys getting the ball to him. He trusted his teammates to get him the ball, and they delivered it on time and on target."

Nolan Kelley had a pair of baskets sandwiched around another one by Sims to cut the gap to 55-44.

A Wilkes basket with 3:58 provided that 59-49 margin, but the Monrovia bigs put the Clovers away with an 8-0 run that saw Newman sandwich a basket around another rousing pair of Smith dunks.

Thomas led the Clovers with 18 points, while Wilkes, Nolan Kelley and Sims each added eight.

Newman paced Monrovia with 30 points, while Smith added 18.

The Clovers will look to get back on the winning track on Tuesday, as they travel to current Putnam County bucket holder South Putnam.

MONROVIA (67) — Newman 14-18 2-7 30, Smith 6-11 4-4 18, Jones 3-9 0-0 6, Williams 1-4 0-0 3, Danforth 1-2 0-1 2, Sprague 2-4 0-0 5, Willett 1-1 0-0 3, McCloud 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-52 FG, 6-12 FT, 67 TP

CLOVERDALE (54) — Thomas 6-13 2-2 18, Wilkes 4-11 0-0 8, Watts 1-8 0-0 3, N.Kelley 4-9 0-0 8, J.Kelley 2-8 2-2 7, Ashcraft 0-1 2-2 2, Sims 4-4 0-0 8, Hall 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 FG, 6-6 FT, 54 TP

3-point shooting — Monrovia 5-19 (Newman 0-2, Smith 2-6, Jones 0-1, Williams 1-4, Sprague 1-3, Willett 1-1), Cloverdale 6-23 (Thomas 4-7, Wilkes 0-4, Watts 1-4, N.Kelley 0-4, J.Kelley 1-4). Turnovers — Monrovia 13, Cloverdale 13.