Clovers regroup to notch first win of young season

NEW MARKET - Cloverdale and Southmont went into Saturday night’s matchups on very contrasting paths, as the Clovers were blown out on Friday while the Mounties earned an emotional one-point overtime over a county rival.

So the big question was would each team continue its path from Friday or would something change?

Thankfully for Cloverdale, things changed. As a result, the team posted its first win of the season earning a big 56-46 road victory.

So what changed?

“We didn’t really talk about much of anything after Friday night (an 88-47 loss to Edgewood) except defense,” Cloverdale head coach Patrick Rady said. “We believe if you play good defense the offense will come. I was very pleased to see the effort on the defensive end, especially to start the game.”

The Clovers (1-2) took heed to the coach’s words and came out getting after the Mounties (1-5) from the start. In fact, the Mounties were limited to just four points -- and two of those were the result of a goal-tending call against the Clovers for slapping the backboard. As a result the visitors took a 10-4 lead into the second quarter.

The defensive pressure continued and the Mounties did not score in the second quarter until nearly five minutes had passed. By that time, Cloverdale’s lead had grown to 16-4.

“We really got after them in the first half,” Rady said. “Anytime you can hold a team to just 11 points in a half you are playing some pretty good defense.”

By the end of the half, Cloverdale had a 24-11 lead as they had held he Mounties to 5 of 21 from the field and 1 of 10 from three-point range.

In the second half, the Mounties’ offense came to life a little and the home team was able to cut the Cloverdale lead to seven at 47-40 with 3:22 to play.

“I am not sure it if was a bit of fatigue or what but we started letting Southmont get going in the fourth quarter,” Rady said. “They are well-coached and they take the ball to the hoop hard. We were fouling them too much but they were causing a lot of that.”

At the same time, the Clovers were able to stay up from seven to 10 points as they were able to hit its foul shots - at least early in the four quarter. Cloverdale hit seven of its first eight charity shots but then missed five of the last six (all which were double bonuses).

“We have to learn to close out a little better,” Rady said. “But that is something we can correct. In fact, the players just ask if we could get some more free throw shooting in either before school, after practice of whenever.”

In addition to the defensive effort, Rady was played with his balanced offense.

“Our goal is to have all five starters in double figures,” he said. “We came close tonight.”

The Clovers had four of five starters to reach nine points for the game. Leading the way was freshman Kyle Thomas who had 16. Senior Jake Wilkes ended a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Parker Watts had 12 points and Nolan Kelley just missed double figures with nine.

Southmont was led by Justin Howard who scored 20 points -- with 18 coming in the second half.

Cloverdale will play on the big stage on Friday as it has a date with Indian Creek at 9 p.m. at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

CLOVERDALE (56) - N. Kelley 4-7 0-0 9, Watts 4-6 2-4 12, Wilkes 4-9 4-6 14, Thomas 5-12 5-6 16, J. Kelley 0-3 3-6 3, Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Sims 0-0 0-0 0, Cornelius 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 17-38 FG 16-24 FT 56 TP.

SOUTHMONT (46) - Roach 5-10 0-0 12, Stanley 0-3 0-0 0, Bowman 5-6 2-2 12, Oppy 0-5 3-4 3, Howard 7-19 3-4 20, Glancy 0-0 0-0 0, Gregg 0-0 0-0 0, McVay 0-1 0-0 0, Saunders 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-44 FG, 7-10 FT 46 TP.

3-Point Shots - Cloverdale 6-20 (N.Kelley 1-3, Watts 2-4, Wilkes 2-4, J.Kelley 0-2, Thomas 1-7); Southmont 5-20 (Roach 2-6, Stanley 0-1, Oppy 0-2, Howard 3-11). Rebounds - Cloverdale 33 (Wilkes 13); Southmont 26 (Oppy 5). Turnovers - Cloverdale 9; Southmont 11. Fouls - Cloverdale 12; Southmont 16. JV - Southmont won 61-33.