Clovers knock off conference foe, 85-69

The Cloverdale Clovers boys' basketball team hosted West Central Conference rival Cascade Friday night, hoping to compete with the Cadets, who entered the game undefeated in conference play with a 3-0 record.

The Clovers played a balanced game on both ends of the floor and handed Cascade its first WCC loss of the season, 85-69.

Cloverdale hit the floor running at the start of the game, outscoring Cascade 23-13 in the first quarter as Christian Cheatham, Michael Neese, Seth Trinkle, Craig Blair, and Kevin Gregg got into the scorebook for the Clovers in period.

Cascade stormed back in the second quarter, closing Cloverdale's lead to four points in the stanza, as the Clovers lost their shooting touch in the period, but the home team still led 37-33 going into the locker room.

Cloverdale played its best basketball of the night in the third quarter, as they got back on track, with Trinkle, Cheatham, Ryan Dean, Blair, and Neese combining to score 26 points in the period, by using an unselfish, assist-driven offense, that gave the Clovers a 16-point lead going into the fourth quarter, 63-47.

The Clovers scored 22 points in the final period, as Ryan Shoulders joined teammates Trinkle, Blair, Cheatham, and Neese in the scoring frenzy as Cloverdale improved its record to 7-4, and 2-1 in the WCC.

Cloverdale won by game by hitting 62 percent of their shots from floor, including 71 percent from two-point range, out-rebounding Cascade, 29-10, and passing the ball with purpose, getting 16 assists, versus six for the Cadets.

That allowed Cloverdale to have three players scoring in double figures, Blair, the leading scorer in the game with 28, and Neese and Cheatham with 18 each.

"Two good ball clubs went at each other tonight," commented Cloverdale coach Pat Rady after the game. "We have a lot of respect for Cascade and what Chris (DuBois) does there.

"We just challenged the kids before the game that had to match their intensity and their desire to play the game, because they have it For the most part, I thought we matched it tonight."

Joining the three Cloverdale players who scored in double figures, Trinkle and Dean had eight points each, Gregg added three, and Shoulders closed out the Clover scoring with two.

Cheatham pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, Dean grabbed six, and Neese had five boards.

Dean and Cheatham had two and one blocked shots, respectively.

Trinkle passed out a game-high five assists and Neese and Cheatham followed with four each, and Neese and Blair stole two passes each.

The Clovers (7-4, 2-1 WCC) travel to New Market today to play Southmont. The junior varsity game begins at 6:30 pm.

At Cloverdale

Cloverdale 23 14 26 22 -- 85

Cascade 13 20 14 22 -- 69

Cloverdale (7-4, 2-1 WCC) -- Neese 6-11 4-5 18, Blair 10-13 7-12 28, Trinkle 4-5 0-3 8, Cheatham 6-10 6-7 18, Shoulders 0-3 2-4 2, Gregg 1-2 0-0 3, Hacker 0-0 0-0 0, Dean 2-3 4-4 8. Totals 29-47 FG, 23-35 FT, 85 TP.

Cascade (7-4, 3-1 WCC) -- Arthur 3-5 0-0 6, Daugherty 4-8 2-2 13, Guthrie 3-8 5-6 15, Mink 7-9 0-2 16, Suter 5-16 2-5 12, Fuehrer 0-1 0-0 0, Galyan 0-2 1-3 1, Simpson 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 25-53 FG, 10-18, FT, 69 TP.

3-pt. FG - Cl 4-12 (Neese 2-7, Blair 1-1, Trinkle 0-1, Cheatham 0-1, Gregg 1-2), Ca 7-16 (Daugherty 3-3, Guthrie 2-5, Mink 2-3, Suter 0-4, Fuehrer 0-1). Rebounds - Cl 29 (Neese 5, Blair 2, Trinkle 3, Cheatham 8, Shoulders 3, Gregg 1, Hacker 1, Dean 6), Ca 16 (Arthur 5, Guthrie 2, Suter 2, Galyan 4, Simpson 3). Blocks -- Cl 3 (Cheatham 1, Dean 2), Ca 1 (Simpson 1). Assists -- Cl 16 (Neese 4, Blair 3, Trinkle 5, Cheatham 4), Ca 6 (Daugherty 1, Guthrie 2, Suter 3). Steals -- Cl 7 (Neese 2, Blair 2, Cheatham 1, Gregg 1, Dean 1), Ca 7 (Arthur 1, Guthrie 2, Suter 1, Galyan 2, Simpson 1). Total fouls -- Cl 14, Ca 24. Fouled out -- Mink, Simpson. Turnovers -- Cl 16, Ca 16.

Next game -- The Clovers (7-4, 2-1 WCC) face Southmont on the road today.