Clovers close season with thrilling win

Saturday, February 28, 2009

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Clovers boys' basketball team hosted the Eminence Eels Friday night in the final regular season game of the season, and celebrating Senior night.

This would also be the final "tune up" before the Clovers open IHSAA tournament play against South Putnam in the second game of the Class 2A, Sectional 46 at South Putnam Tuesday night.

Cloverdale proved they are ready for Tuesday night by playing solid basketball on both ends of the court, soundly defeating Eminence, 70-48.

The Clovers raced out to at 19-12 advantage in the first quarter, by forcing the Eels to commit five turnovers, while Kevin Dean, Link Lovins, Eric Kukman, Brandon Moon, and Jacob Clark got into scorebook on assists from Jordan Hayden, Kukman, Dean, Clark, and Jason Salter.

When Lovins and Moon got into foul trouble for the Clovers in the second quarter, and were forced out of the game, Cloverdale's bench came into the game, and didn't miss a beat.

The Clovers outscored the Eels, 25-10, in the period, leading at halftime, 44-22.

Cloverdale continued to dominate in the second half, leading, 57-31, at the end of the third quarter, and 70-48, at the end of the game, as Chuck Strunk, Hayden, and Christopher Arnold were able to get into the Clovers' scorebook.

The Clovers overpowered the Eels in every statistical category of the game; shooting percentage, 45 percent versus 34 percent, rebounding, 39, 12 of which were offensive boards, versus 25, blocked shots, 9 to one, and assists, 19 versus nine.

"I was very pleased with our team tonight," commented Cloverdale coach Pat Rady after the game. "We've lost to three good teams and I thought in every one of the games, we showed that we could play with teams of that caliber.

"It was nice to come back and play before our home crowd on Senior night," Rady added. The band and the student body help us so much. They really stayed behind us.

"It was really a team win tonight. We had some guys get in foul trouble, and our bench came in and played really well, scoring 25 points in the second quarter. We moved the ball really well, and our offense was really under control and our defense played some good man-to-man tonight.

"We thought this was a very good win for us, going into the Sectional," Rady commented.

Cloverdale had four players scoring double figures, Kukman and Lovins leading with 13 points each, with Hayden adding 12 and Clark chipping in 10.

Moon and Dean followed with eight each, and Strunk and Arnold closed out the Clover scoring with three points.

Dean led the Clovers in rebounds with a game-high 12 boards, Kukman had eight, and Lovins grabbed six, Hayden followed with four, Moon, Salter, and Mitchell Williams had two each, and Strunk, Franky Skiles, and Christopher Arnold grabbed one each.

Lovins had a game-high seven blocked shots, with Moon and Salter each getting a block.

Clark passed for a game-high four assists, Kukman and Hayden passed for three each, Moon, Dean, and Salter had two each, and Strunk, Lovins, and Donavon Scisney passed-out one each.

Dean had a game-high three steals, with Hayden grabbing two, and Clark and Scisney each had a steal.

In the junior varsity game, Cloverdale suffered a heart-breaking loss in double overtime to Eminence, 40-47.

Christopher Arnold led the Clovers in scoring with 13 points, followed by Seth Jonte with 10.

Franky Skiles scored seven, Joseph Fidler added four, and James Hinton, Mitchell Williams, and Chuck Strunk closed out the Clover scoring with two points each.

This was also the final game Cloverdale seniors Eric Kukman and Link Lovins will play on their home court.

The Clovers (8-13, 3-3 WCC) play South Putnam in the second game of the Class 2A, Sectional 46 at South Putnam Tuesday night. The game will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game between Covenant Christian and Cascade, which begins at 6 p.m.

At Cloverdale

Cloverdale19251313--70
Eminence1210917--48

Cloverdale (8-13, 3-3 WCC)

Moon 3-9 0-0 8, Clark 4-8 2-2 10, Strunk 0-2 3-4 3, Kukman 6-11 1-2 13, Hayden 4-8 0-0 12, Dean 3-5 2-2 8, Salter 0-2 0-2 0, Skiles 0-0 0-0 0, Lovins 5-9 3-4 13, Arnold 1-2 0-0 3, Scisney 0-1 0-0 0, Williams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-58 FG, 11-16 FT, 70 TP.

Eminence (5-15, 1-4 TRC)

Hudson 6-12 6-10 18, Ray 0-0 0-0 0, Gore 4-9 0-0 11, Shupe 0-4 0-3 0, Marcum 2-6 0-0 5, Wagner 0-2 1-2 1, Watkins 0-3 1-2 1, Lawson 4-9 4-5 12, Garland 0-0 0-0 0, Feutz 0-0 0-0 0, Ford 0-0 0-0 0, Goss 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 16-47 FG, 12-22 FT, 48 TP.

3-pt. FG - C 7-17 (Moon 2-6, Clark 0-2, Hayden 4-6, Salter 0-1, Arnold 1-2), E 4-13 (Hudson 0-2, Gore 3-5, Shupe 0-1, Marcum 1-2, Wagner 0-1, Goss 0-2). Rebounds - C 39 (Moon 2, Strunk 1, Kukman 8, Hayden 4, Dean 12, Salter 2, Skiles 1, Lovins 6, Arnold 1, Williams 2), E 25 (Hudson 1, Ray 3, Gore 1, Shupe 2, Marcum 3, Wagner 2, Watkins 7, Lawson 5, Ford 1). Blocks -- C 9 (Moon 1, Salter 1, Lovins 7), E 1 (Shupe 1). Assists -- C 19 (Moon 2, Clark 4, Strunk 1, Kukman 3, Hayden 3, Dean 2, Salter 2, Lovins 1, Scisney 1), E 9 (Hudson 2, Ray 1, Gore 2, Shupe 2, Marcum 1, Wagner 1). Steals -- C 7 (Clark 1, Hayden 2, Dean 3, Scisney 1), E 9 (Hudson 3, Shupe 1, Wagner 2, Watkins 1, Lawson 2). Total fouls -- C 19, E 15. Fouled out -- none. Turnovers - C 15, E 16.

Next game -- The Clovers (8-13, 3-3 WCC) play South Putnam in the second game of the Class 2A, Sectional 46 at South Putnam Tuesday night. The game will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game between Covenant Christian and Cascade, which begins at 6:00.