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CHS takes victory in first Wabash Valley game
TERRE HAUTE -- The 16th First Financial Wabash Basketball Classic kicked off on Saturday morning at Terre Haute North Vigo High School with the Cloverdale Clovers playing the Shakamak Lakers. Neither team played great but Cloverdale played better getting the win in the end, 62-60.
"I think that is the special thing about this tournament," Cloverdale head coach Patrick Rady said. "It is like the sectional tournament in March. You have to be ready from the get-go. You are out of your routine and it is good to get the experience."
In the first half Cloverdale pressed Shakamak but to no avail as the press was broken easily many times which led to easy shots for Shakamak. Even though the Lakers got easy shots they only shot 43 percent from the field for the half.
Cloverdale seemed to force shots, only shooting 35 percent in the first half and were outrebounded by 17, 27-10.
In the second half Shakamak came out fast going on a 8-0 run to open the half to stretch the lead to 11 at 37-26. The Clovers answered that run with a 15-7 run of their own to take the game into the fourth quarter with a deficit of two.
In the fourth quarter the Clovers showed toughness and grit by battling for the ball forcing seven turnovers and then after they took a five-point lead midway through the quarter they hit 12-of-14 free throws to solidify the lead and take the game 62-60.
"The number one goal is advance and move on," Rady said. "We will play an outstanding team next so we next to make sure we sharpen some things up."
The Clovers did have some glaring holes in their game though. They were outrebounded by 21, 41-20 and they only shot 38 percent while allowing Shakamak to shoot at 52 percent clip.
One great thing that the Clovers did was force 23 turnovers while only committing six.
"We have made some adjustments in our defense over the past week," Rady said. "We knew that we had to create more turnovers than we had been. You have to be able to guard because you are not always able to shoot extremely well."
Eighteen of those turnovers were steals and they were led by sophomore Jalen Moore with eight followed by juniors Cooper Neese, junior Seth Pfaff and sophomore Nick Winders with three each.
Neese scored 36 points in the game on 11-for-26 shooting, the sixth most in tournament history, and Moore had 19 points on 7-for-13 shooting.
The Clovers will play next on Monday Dec. 28 in the second round of the tournament against Edgewood at 1 p.m.
At Terre Haute North Vigo
Shakamak 15 14 15 16 - 60
Cloverdale 16 10 16 20 - 62
SCORING
Shakamak (60): Yeryar 13-21 6-7 34, Scott 5-9 1-2 11, Green 3-3 1-2 7, Landry 1-5 2-2 4, Gilbert 1-7 0-0 2, Cauchetuer 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 24-46 (2-12) 10-13, 60.
Cloverdale (62): Neese 11-26 11-15 36, Moore 7-13 5-7 19, Hall 2-4 1-2 5, Winders 0-5 2-2 2, Pfaff 0-1 0-0 0, Watts 0-1 0-0 0, Wilkes 0-1 0-0 0. Total: 20-52 (3-19) 19-26, 62.
REBOUNDING (Total-offensive)
Shakamak (41-12): Scott 8-3, Gilbert 8-2, Yeryar 8-1, Landry 5-2, Green 2-0, Cauchetuer 2-2, West 1-0.
Cloverdale (20-8): Neese 6-1, Hall 4-2, Winders 2-1, Pfaff 2-0, Moore 1-0.
Assists: SHS 7 (Gilbert 2, Scott 2), CHS 4 (Moore 2). Steals: SHS 3 (Landry 2), CHS 18 (Moore 8). Blocks: SHS 1 (Gilbert 1), CHS 2 (Hall 2).
Turnovers: SHS 23, CHS 6. Fouls: SHS 20, CHS 13. Fouled out: Mathias Caucheteur (Shakamak