Clovers rout Riverton Parke in home opener

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Clovers scored 71 points for the second time in as many games Saturday night, but this time that was good enough to win.

Playing improved defense against a less experienced Riverton Parke team, the Clovers evened their record at 1-1 with a 71-48 victory in their homecourt opener.

"We played well. I thought we moved the ball well. I thought the ball had eyes (as) we had some nice assists. I thought our zone was active and created some problems (for Riverton Parke). It was a good bounce back tonight (from Tuesday's loss at Covenant Christian). I was very pleased with the performance tonight," Cloverdale coach Pat Rady said.

Cloverdale's 71-point night was triggered by a 1-3-1 half-court trap that led to 14 steals and a lot of lay ups.

Four Clovers scored in double figures, led by Jacob Clark with 14 points and three steals. Brandon Moon followed with 12 points and a game-high five steals. Center Jason Salter netted 12 points and grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds, and Kevin Dean had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Riverton Parke, playing its first game and with only two returning varsity players, was led by Garrett Lientz with 17 points.

"Cloverdale, they're good. They're well coached. They know what they are doing. [They have a] quick point guard [that] gets up and down the floor. It's hard for us to get back sometimes," Riverton Parke coach Monty Kirk said.

Opening the game with a full-court press, Cloverdale scored the first five points. Back-to-back putback buckets by Dean and Salter gave the Clovers a 20-9 lead going into the second period.

Cloverdale's lead hit double figures when Moon found Moore for a layup. Jordan Hayden scored a reverse layup in heavy traffic to put the Clovers up 28-13 three minutes into the second period.

A basket by Chuck Strunk gave the Clovers a 37-17 halftime lead. Cloverdale forced Riverton Parke into 10 first half turnovers and held the Panthers to 3-for-24 shooting.

Through three quarters, Cloverdale shot 50 percent (25-of-50) from the floor. But the Clovers hit 10-of-16 shots in the third quarter, as the defense of Moon and Clark frustrated the Panthers into an intentional foul on a breakaway layup.

"We utilized our quickness. Our hands were active. We made our (defensive) slides well tonight. Even though we've got some smaller guys, they're quick jumpers. We got some of the steals on that, where we were playing in the passing lane. I was very pleased with the way we were playing our defense tonight," Rady said.

Cloverdale took a 62-29 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Clovers shot 47 percent (28-of-59) for the game, cooling off to 3-of-12 in the fourth quarter. Cloverdale held Riverton Parke to 25 percent (13-of-52) shooting from the floor.

"We're a better shooting ball club than we were tonight. We had some great shots tonight that just didn't fall. We still want those guys to take those (open shots)," Rady said after the 690th win of his coaching career and 72nd at Cloverdale.

Cloverdale's junior varsity opened with a 31-29 win.

At Cloverdale

Riverton Parke 9 8 12 19 -- 48

Cloverdale 20 17 25 9 -- 71

Riverton Parke (48)

Engle 1-7 1-3 4, Vauters 4-11 9-10 17, Lientz 1-7 4-4 6, Jer. Helton 4-14 3-6 11, Yeargin 1-7 0-0 2, Hardesty 1-2 0-0 3, Jos. Helton 0-1 0-0 0, Secuskie 0-1 1-2 1, Daugherty 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-52 FG, 20-28 FT, 48 TP.

Cloverdale (71)

Hayden 4-11 0-0 9, Dean 4-6 3-7 11, Salter 6-8 0-0 12, Clark 5-13 3-3 14, Moon 4-12 2-4 12, Moore 2-3 1-2 5, Skiles 0-1 0-0 0, Arnold 1-2 1-2 3, Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Fidler 0-0 0-0 0, Strunk 1-1 0-2 2, Scisney 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 28-59 FG, 10-19 FT, 71 TP.

3-Pt. -- RP 2-12 (Hardesty 1-2, Engle 1-5, Josh Helton 0-1, Daugherty 0-1, Yeargin 0-3), CHS 5-18 (Moon 2-5, Clark 1-5, Hayden 1-7, Scisney 1-1).

Total fouls -- RP 17, CHS 20.

Fouled out -- Josh Helton, Moore.

Turnovers -- RP 19, CHS 13. Rebounds -- RP 43 (Lientz 15), CHS 37 (Salter 8, Dean 7, Hayden 6),

Steals -- RP 9 (Vauters, Jeremy Helton 3), CHS 14 (Moon 5, Clark 3, Salter, Dean, Hayden 2).

Next game -- Cloverdale (1-1) plays in the Putnam County Tourney at Greencastle on Friday.