Clovers drop opener to Covenant Christian

Monday, November 26, 2007

By Keith Bodnarick

For The Banner Graphic

Pat Rady couldn't have been disappointed with his team's heart and aggressiveness Friday night, but his Cloverdale Clovers were simply outmanned by a physical, athletic Covenant Christian squad 67-53.

Outsized at nearly every position, the Clovers kept it close at the intermission, trailing by four, 30-26. Craig Blair and Michael Glassburn each contributed seven points for Cloverdale in the first half, but it became obvious near the end of the second quarter that it would be difficult for the Clovers to match up with the Warriors' athleticism.

An 8-2 run by Covenant at the beginning of the third quarter, highlighted by three-point field goals by Derek Miles and Greg Byers, put Cloverdale in a hole that they would never be able to recover from.

The Warriors began to assert themselves on the offensive glass, accumulating 12 second chance points in the second half.

Covenant's dominance on the boards, coupled with a 55% shooting performance in the final 16 minutes, enabled the Warriors to cruise to the 14 point victory. The Clovers, conversely, were able to connect on only 38% of their field goals in the second half.

The only facet of the ballgame that Cloverdale was able top Covenant at was on the charity stripe, where the Clovers converted on 12-14 attempts. Rady's squad was led by Blair, who netted 16 points; Glassburn added 11.

The Warriors featured a balanced scoring attack and were led by Brad Owens game-high 21 points. Miles added 17, and Seth Bowel contributed 14.

At Indianapolis

Score by Quarters

Cloverdale 11 15 10 17 -- 53

Covenant Christian 16 14 18 19 -- 67

Cloverdale -- Blair 16, Glassburn 11, Young 8, Moon 7, Randall 7, Dean

4.

Covenant Christian -- Owens 21, Miles 17, Bowel 14, Smith 6, Kanzler 4,

Byers 3, Dill 2.

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