Clovers top Parke Heritage for 10th win of season

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Clovers and the Parke Heritage Wolves finished regular season play at Cloverdale Tuesday night. The two teams certainly competed like it was already the tournament with the Clovers holding on for 63-60 victory.

“Both programs have faced some adversity this year. I thought you saw two teams that are playing their best basketball going into the state tournament,” Cloverdale head coach Patrick Rady said.

Cloverdale withstood a tough second quarter and recovered with a big third quarter to pick up its 10th win against 13 losses on the season. Parke Heritage fell to 8-15.

The aggressive Clovers got to the free throw line early and often on the night. They shot 16-of-26 from the line which was the difference in a tight game. Both teams were pretty comparable in shooting from the field (Parke Heritage with 45 percent and Cloverdale with 43 percent) and almost dead even in turnovers and rebounding. That made the charity stripe the difference.

Cloverdale was able to jump out to a lead early on. The Clovers used an 11-0 run in the first quarter to take a 18-11 lead at the first stoppage of play. The Clovers put five of six players on the floor in the scoring column in the period as they were moving the ball well and finding openings in the Wolves’ defense. They shot 7-of-14 from the floor and a perfect 5-of-5 from the line in the opening quarter.

“Karl Turk has taken over the offense, he has been a head coach and a lot of the credit goes to him as far as the spacing and what these kids can do,” Rady said.

The Wolves turned the tables on Cloverdale in the second quarter. They opened the period with a 14-1 run to take a 25-21 lead, then rode the hot-shooting Landon Newnum to a 32-27 halftime advantage. Newnum scored 12 of his game-high 27 points in the quarter as he had nine of those points during the run.

Cloverdale struggled offensively in the quarter. The Clovers lost leading scorer Kyle Thomas to his third foul early in the period and then shot just 2-of-12 and uncharacteristically missed half of their 10 free throw attempts.

“That is the first time we have been in that situation (Thomas foul trouble),” Rady said. “ I thought the kids did a great job of withstanding their run in the second quarter. We missed some free throws and a layup or it wouldn’t have been that bad.”

The third quarter was Cloverdale’s turn to make a run. Kyle Thomas and Nolan Kelley nailed a pair of big three-pointers during an 11-2 run to get the Clovers back the lead at 43-42 and they were able to hold off Parke Heritage and maintain a 50-47 edge after three periods. Nolan Kelley and Kyle Thomas each had seven points in the quarter.

“Nolan has really gotten better handling the basketball. He is really tough to guard. We know he is going to shoot well,” Rady said.

Cloverdale kept the Wolves at bay in the fourth quarter. The home team couldn’t pull away, but they never lost their lead and played with the composure needed to close out the victory at 63-60. Thomas kept the pressure on the Wolves with eight of his team-high 19 points in the quarter, including a volleyball line trey that energized the crowd and forced a Parke Heritage timeout. The Wolves had a couple of chances to tie the game late, but Jake Wilkes altered a shot in the lane, then made a key steal late to seal the victory.

“I thought we defended well, we made some adjustments at halftime and did some things we hadn’t even practiced. The kids responded well,” Rady said.

Thomas led the Clovers with 19 points and Nolan Kelley had 15. Jake Wilkes added 14 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.

Newnum led all scorers with 27 points, while Connor Davis scored 13 and Logan White had 12 points for the Wolves.

“Newnum is a load. He is a really good player,” Rady said.

The Clovers will now take the week off and prepare to take on Monrovia in the Class 2A Sectional 44 opener on Tuesday night at South Putnam.

“You really want to be playing your best basketball at this time of year,” Rady said. “I think we are playing well.”

PARKE HERITAGE (60) – Crull 0-0 0-0 0, Ferguson 1-2 1-2 4, Newnum 10-18 3-4 27, Davis 6-10 1-2 13, White 5-12 1-3 11, Johnson 1-6 2-4 4, Stewart 0-2 0-0 0, Lynk 0-1 0-0 0, O’Brien 0-1 1-2 1, Petrillo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-51 FG, 9-17 FT, 60 TP.

CLOVERDALE (63) – N. Kelley 3-5 8-11 15, Ashcraft 1-3 4-8 6, Wilkes 6-13 1-1 14, J. Kelley 1-2 2-4 4, Thomas 8-16 0-0 19, Watts 2-9 1-2 5, Sims 0-1 0-0 0, Hall 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-49 FG, 16-26 FT, 63 TP.

Parke Heritage1121151360
Cloverdale189231363

3-point shooting – PH 5-17 (Ferguson 1-2, Newnum 4-11, White 0-1, Stewart 0-2, Lynk 0-1) CHS 5-21 (N. Kelley 1-2, Wilkes 1-4, J. Kelley 0-1, Thomas 3-7, Watts 0-7). Rebounds – PH 36 (Crull 3, Ferguson 6, Newnum 1, Davis 12, White 5, Johnson 3, Stewart 1, O’Brien 1) CHS – 33 (Ashcraft 5, Wilkes 11, J. Kelley 6, Thomas 3, Watts 3). FG Pct. – PH 45.1, CHS 42.9. FT Pct. – PH 52.9, CHS 61.5. Turnovers – PH 13, CHS 12.

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