Clovers defeat Eminence

EMINENCE -- The Cloverdale Clovers boys' basketball team traveled to Eminence Friday night to play the Eels in the last game before the sectional begins next week.

The Clovers are peaking at the right time in the season, as Cloverdale earned its 16th win of the season, defeating the Eels, 91-47.

Cloverdale raced out to a 10-0 lead in the first 2:30 of the game using an unselfish offense and a stingy defense.

In that stretch, Chase Haltom, Kyle McCammon, Christian Cheatham and Luke Lovins each scored on the receiving end of passes or on break-away baskets resulting from stolen Eel passes.

Craig Blair also scored in the opening quarter and Cloverdale led 21-9 at the first stop.

The visitors raced-out to a 44-16 lead with 2:50 to go in the first half, and then Cloverdale Coach Pat Rady rested his starters for the rest of the second quarter.

The Clovers took 50-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Michael Neese, Lovins, Cheatham, Haltom, Ryan Dean, McCammon and Blair continued helping their team dominate Eminence in the second half, with Cloverdale leading 76-28 at the end of the third quarter.

Rady pulled his starters at the start of the fourth quarter and Kyle Faletic, Ryan Shoulders and Tyler Cooper came off of the bench to help the Clovers seal the victory.

Cloverdale dominated every aspect of the game.

They hit 58 percent of their shots from the floor, outrebounded the Eels, 34-30, blocked 11 of Eminence's shots, passed for 13 assists, stole 18 of the home team's passes, and only committed 12 turnovers while forcing Eminence to commit 21.

The Cloverdale offense allowed 10 players to score and six players to pass for assists.

Ten of the Cloverdale players grabbed rebounds and eight players had a least one steal.

"We've got great ball movement now and we are playing the inside-out game and fast break basketball," commented Cloverdale coach Pat Rady after the game.

"When the ball is in someone's hands, the ball has eyes. However, we have to give credit to Eminence," Rady added."They played with a lot of desire and they didn't quit. You would have thought that the game was tied. You've got to give credit to the players and the coach the way they kept working the ball. It was a tough night for them as the ball just wouldn't drop for them," Rady added.

He also commended his own players.

"It was a good effort on their part, but you have to give credit to our players," Rady said. "I think we had a tremendous effort on our part and we are playing at a very good level of basketball right now."

Cloverdale had four players who scored in double figures. Haltom led the way with a game-high 20, McCammon had 14, Neese had 11, and Lovins scored 10.

Gregg followed with nine, Blair and Cheatham had eight each, Dean added seven, and Faletic and Shoulders closed out the Clover scoring with two points each.

Dean pulled-down six rebounds, and Blair and Lovins grabbed five each.

Lovins had a game-high six blocked shots and Cheatham had four.

McCammon had a game-high seven assists.

Haltom and McCammon had game-high six steals each.

The game was the final regular season game for Cloverdale seniors Haltom, Faletic, McCammon, Cooper, and Lovins.

In the junior varsity game, Cloverdale ended the season on a positive note, defeating Eminence, 51-23. The Clovers earned an 11-8 record and won the Putnam County Tournament, Seth Trinkle led the scoring for the Clovers with 18, followed by Aaron Dayhuff with 13, Justin Hacker and Kevin Gregg had six each, and Ryan Shoulders and Brandon Mescall closed out the Cloverdale scoring with four points each.

The Clovers (16-4, 5-1 WCC) play Monrovia in the first game on Wednesday night of the Class 2A Sectional 45 tournament at South Putnam. The game will begin at 6 p.m.

At Eminence

Cloverdale (16-4, 5-1 WCC)

Neese 5-5 0-1 11, Blair 4-6 0-0 8, Haltom 8-11 2-2 20, Faletic 0-1 2-3 2, Cheatham 3-6 2-3 8, McCammon 3-10 6-6 14, Cooper 0-3 0-0 0, Lovins 5-6 0-4 10, Dean 2-3 3-8 7, Shoulders 1-3 0-0 2, Gregg 3-5 2-4 9. Totals 34-59 FG, 17-31 FT, 91 TP.

Eminence (5-15)

Moss 2-13 2-9 6, Whaley 1-11 2-2 4, Lockwood 1-8 6-6 8, Adkisson 2-6 7-10 11, Buis 1-2 0-0 3, Brown 2-6 0-0 5, Stinson 3-8 0-0 6, Grenier 1-4 0-0 2, Ford 1-1 0-0 2, Shupe 0-0 0-0 0, Lawson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-59 FG, 17-27, FT, 47 TP.

3-pt. FG - C 6-16 (Neese 1-1, Haltom 2-4, Faletic 0-1, Cheatham 0-1, McCammon 2-6, Gregg 1-3), E 2-15 (Moss 0-1, Whaley 0-3, Lockwood 0-4, Adkisson 0-1, Buis 1-2, Brown 1-4). Rebounds - C 34 (Neese 4, Blair 5, Haltom 3, Faletic 1, Cheatham 4, McCammon 2, Cooper 2, Lovins 5, Dean 6, Shoulders 2), E 30 (Moss 5, Whaley 3, Lockwood 1, Adkisson 7, Brown 2, Stinson 4, Grenier 7, Shupe 1). Blocks - C 11 (Neese 1, Cheatham 4, Lovins 6), E 0. Assists - C 13 (Neese 2, Blair 1, Haltom 1, McCammon 7, Dean 1, Shoulders 1), E 5 (Moss 3, Whaley 1, Adkisson 1). Steals - C 18 (Neese 1, Blair 1, Haltom 6, Faletic 1, Cheatham 1, McCammon 6, Cooper 1, Lovins 1), E 6 (Moss 2, Adkisson 1, Brown 1, Stinson 2). Total fouls - C 20, E 23. Fouled out - Dean, Lockwood. Turnovers - C 12, E 21.

Junior Varsity - The Clovers won, 51-23.

Next game - The Clovers (16-4, 5-1 WCC) play Monrovia in the first game on Wednesday night of the Class 2A Sectional 45 tournament at South Putnam. The game will begin at 6:00.