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Cloverdale boys' basketball beats Monrovia, 61-52
CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Clovers welcomed the Monrovia Bulldogs on Friday night and the hosts came out with the easy victory,
Cloverdale senior KJ Coleman set the tone early scoring six points off a steal and two offensive rebound putbacks to force a Bulldog timeout less than two minutes into the game.
Cloverdale pressed Monrovia from the very start of the game and it worked to perfection for the first few possessions. Using the press Cloverdale built a 17-0 lead four minutes into the game.
"We were shellshocked in the beginning. Once we settled down we did not lose our composure, I just did not think we were confident," Monrovia head coach Micah Elliot said.
"The first four minutes of the game we played really good," Cloverdale head coach Pat Rady said. "Give credit to Monrovia they play with a lot of desire and enthusiasm and that make up for a lot of mistakes if you work so hard."
At the end of the first quarter the Bulldogs figured the press out though and started to make a run easily breaking the press and forcing seven Clover turnovers. The Bulldogs went on a 15-6 run to end the quarter trailing 23-15.
"When we made our run I thought our kids did a really nice job of taking good shots," Elliot said.
Monrovia scored the first four points of the second quarter as well to cut the lead to four, 23-19 with six minutes left in the half but that was as close as it would come the rest of the half. The Clovers built their lead back up to seven at the half 35-28.
The Bulldogs would make another furious run at the start of the third, overtaking the Clovers 39-37 on a quick 11-4 run three minutes into the third quarter.
"I contribute (taking the lead back) partly to our fans, once we tied the game and then took the lead I thought our fans got louder. I thought we really had a sixth man tonight," Rady said.
The Clovers would respond by going on a run of their own to end the third quarter to take the lead back, 46-39.
The Bulldogs would not get much traction in the fourth quarter against the Clovers just barely holding on the entire quarter. The game ended with the final score 61-52 in favor of the hosts.
"Our kids need to understand that we do not need to take a lot of shots we just need to take good shots and that will get us back into the game," Elliot said. "We need to work through that to condition our kids in practice to make those plays in a game."
"I thought our kids gritted their teeth and in the last quarter we played much better," Rady said.
At Cloverdale
Monrovia 15 13 11 15 - 52
Cloverdale 23 12 11 13 - 61
Rebounds (offensive)
MHS (14-4): Eisenhunt 3-1, Seber 3-2, Williams 3-1, Baker 2-0 Smith 2-0.
CHS (36-10): Coleman 10-2, Neese 7-0, Scott 7-2, Fislar 3-1, J. Moore 3-1, Duff 2-2, Lotz 2-2.
Turnovers: M 9 , C 17. Fouls: M 18, C 8.
Monrovia (52): Smith 7-15 2-3 17, Baker 4-10 0-0 12, Eisenhut 6-13 0-0 12, Williams 2-5 2-2 6, Seber 1-4 1-1 3, Welty 1-2 0-0 2. Total: 21-49 (5-18) 5-6, 52.
Cloverdale (61): Coleman 9-16 3-3 21, Neese 5-11 6-6 18, Scott 4-7 2-2 10, J. Moore 3-4 2-2 9, Fislar 1-3 1-2 3, Duff 0-2 0-0 0, Lotz 0-0 0-2 0. Total: 22-43 (3-14) 14-17, 61.