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Clovers take victory over South Montgomery
CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Clovers were in action on Saturday night with their first home game of the 2015-16 season against the visiting South Montgomery Mounties. In a nail biter until the end, the Clovers prevailed 67-58.
"Southmont played extremely well, kudos to them," junior Cooper Neese said. "They are a sectional team and we need to stay with them to compete."
Neese had to score nine points to reach the 1,000-point club and he did so by hitting a 3-pointer in the second quarter. Neese finished with 31 points.
"For him to get his 1,000th point I thought that was special," Cloverdale head coach Patrick Rady said. "Cooper is a special kid. He loves playing for Cloverdale and putting on the jersey."
"It was special," Neese said. "Having my dad and my brother play here and having the community behind me like Cloverdale makes it really special."
The game was back and forth for the first three quarters with neither team having a lead by more than four points at any time.
With the score tied at 46-all to end the third, the Clovers started to make a run after Neese hit a 3-pointer to start the fourth and they never looked back.
The Clovers hit their free throws down the stretch and Southmont did not have an answer on the offensive end. The Clovers hit 9-9 free throws in the fourth quarter to take the game 67-58.
The defense for Cloverdale was very good in the game, holding a potent offense to 58 points. The Clovers pressed and gave up some easy buckets but adjusted and played 2-3 zone as well, which forced the Mounties to settle for outside jumpers and they only connected on 7-of-17 from deep.
"I think they were ready for our press," Rady said. "I think other teams are doing a great job of preparing and pushing the ball up the sideline. I thought we made some adjustments and it was a total team effort."
Besides the big game from Neese, sophomore Jalen Moore also had a nice night from the floor, scoring 22 points. The offensive movement was key to spread the ball around and helped create separation for Neese and Moore all night long.
Despite the win, with a tough run of games coming up the Clovers have to work on some things next week in preparation for the weekend.
"That was our fifth game in two weeks so we have not had much time in practice to work on adjustments from in game stuff," Rady said. "Defensively we need to work on getting down and stopping the drive."
Cloverdale JV was defeated 61-28.
The Clovers will be back in action at North Putnam on Friday Dec. 11 and on the next night at Monrovia.
At Cloverdale
Southmont 16 13 17 12 - 58
Cloverdale 18 10 18 21 - 67
SCORING
Southmont (58): Chadd 8-15 1-2 20, Todd 4-6 4-4 16, Travers 6-11 0-0 12, Swick 2-9 2-3 6, Budd 2-4 0-0 4, Gregg 0-3 0-0 0, Farabee 0-4 0-0 0.. Totals: 22-52 (7-17) 7-9, 58.
Cloverdale (67): Neese 7-17 11-11 31, Moore 9-20 3-8 1-1 22, Winders 3-6 0-0 8, Nally 3-7 0-0 6, Pfaff 0-2 0-0 0, Wilkes 0-2 0-1 0 Hall 0-1 0-0 0. Total: 22-56 (11-25) 12-13, 28.
REBOUNDING (Total-offensive)
Southmont (27-5): Chadd 8-1, Todd 4-0, Swick 3-0, Travers 2-1, Budd 2-0, Gregg 2-1, Farabee 1-0, Team 5-2.
Cloverdale (37-12): Neese 8-1, Winders 7-2, Moore 4-1, Pfaff 4-1, Nally 3-1, Wilkes 3-3, Hall 2-0, Team 6-3.
Assists: SHS 5 (Travers 3), CHS 8 (Neese 3, Pfaff 3). Steals: SHS 4 (Swick 2), CHS 5 (Moore 3). Blocks: SHS 2 (Swick 2), CHS 1 (Winders 1).
Turnovers: SHS 9, CHS 12.