Moore, Clovers have one more run than Tiger Cubs in WCC win 68-58

Cloverdale junior Marquise Moore finishes a layup after driving past the entire Greencastle defense. Moore had 32 points in the win for undefeated Cloverdale. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

CLOVERDALE -- Led by 32 points from junior guard Marquise Moore, the Cloverdale boys' basketball team improved on its perfect season with a win over visiting Greencastle in the West Central Conference opener for both teams, 68-58.

It was the first time Cloverdale had won its conference-opener since 2009.

"I'm pleased to start the conference 1-0," CHS coach Pat Rady said. "It's been a while."

The Clovers (6-0, 1-0 WCC) shot out to a quick 15-5 lead before a timeout from Greencastle.

Sophomore Ryan Coble and senior Seth Brown led the Tiger Cubs (2-2, 0-1 WCC) back, helping them take a brief 22-19 lead early in the second quarter before the Clovers found another wind.

"I was proud of the way the kids responded," Greencastle coach Troy Greenlee said. "I thought we really battled hard."

The teams fought back-and-forth for the remainder of the half when Coble hit a deep two with just a few seconds remaining. Coble finished with 22 points.

Moore responded, racing the length of the court and burying a 3-pointer to put his team up 35-31 at the break.

Cloverdale built on its lead but the Tiger Cubs made another run early in the fourth, cutting the deficit to just four points with 4:18 left in the game.

"We knew they'd have runs. Good teams have runs," Rady said. "They've got good players. They've improved so much and Troy does a good job of coaching.

"We knew they'd come at us in different stretches and we just hoped we could sustain it."

While the Tiger Cubs used their whole team to make a run, spreading the scoring between Coble, Brown, junior Brody Bollman and senior Luke Brotherton, Moore proved to be capable of making a run all on his own.

He had 17 points in the second half, including seven down the stretch. He also caused the Tiger Cubs top two point guards, Brotherton and junior Anthony Mitchell, to both foul out.

The Clover's second-leading scorer, freshman Cooper Neese, finished with 22 points but was held relatively in check, guarded mostly by Brown. Neese was 6-for-17 from the field.

Coble, who had 22, was chased valiantly by Cloverdale senior Kade Schroer. Schroer was scoreless in the game, but he kept Coble from getting balanced and hauled in 12 rebounds.

Brown had 11 points, five rebounds and three blocks for the Tiger Cubs. Bollman had eight points and nine boards. Brotherton had eight of his 10 points in the fourth quarter and finished with eight rebounds and three assists.

"We had some chances late," Greenlee said. "Against a good team like this you've got to take advantage of those chances and we didn't. They have a couple kids that are extremely hard to guard and when they're hitting shots and getting to the basket, it makes things pretty tough on you."

Sophomore Brantson Scott had seven points and 12 rebounds for the Clovers, who finished with a 46-34 advantage on the boards in the game.

Senior Brandon Dorman had seven points, six rebounds and two blocks for

The Clovers were buoyed by their home crowd, which was loud and supportive throughout. The noise from the student section made each Cloverdale shot seem more important, making the home team's rallies seem more prominent than those of Tiger Cubs.

"We rebounded better tonight," Rady said. "We made a little bit of an adjustment (with our defense) in the last quarter, and I thought that helped us."

Greencastle is scheduled to play at Sullivan on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Cloverale plays next at Monrovia on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Greencastle (58): Coble 10-20 0-0 22, Brown 3-11 2-2 11, Brotherton 5-8 0-0 10, Bollman 3-8 2-2 8, Gerard 0-1 0-0 0, Hughes 2-3 0-0 4, King 1-7 0-0 3, Mitchell 0-2 0-0 0, Foxx 0-1 0-0 0. Total 24-62 4-4 58.