Clovers control fourth period, OT to pick up win at West Vigo

WEST TERRE HAUTE – West Vigo won each of the first three quarters against Cloverdale on Tuesday night, holding a 40-32 advantage at what is normally the final stop.

The Clovers used some good free throw shooting and gritty rebounding to tie the game at 46-46 at the end of regulation, and then dominated the extra period to record a 56-52 Western Indiana Conference victory.

The win put the two teams into a fifth-place tie in the conference at 5-4. Cloverdale will close out league play on Friday by hosting league leader Sullivan and ends its regular season on Saturday by hosing Eminence.

West Vigo got a pair of treys from senior guard Ethan Kesler in the first quarter to take an 11-8 lead at the first stop. Four different Vikings hit treys in the second period as the hosts took a 27-22 lead.

Five different Clovers scored in the second period, with Kyle Thomas scoring 10 points for his team prior to intermission.

West Vigo leading scorer Zeke Tanoos had seven points in the third period as the Vikings established that eight-point advantage.

Cloverdale came out of the gates strongly in the fourth period, getting a pair of free throws from Tayt Jackson, one from McGuire and a trey from Thomas to bring the Clovers within two with 3:11 to play.

West Vigo got its first points of the final period on a Jensen Turner trey with 2:06 left for a 43-38 lead.

The Clovers kept clawing away, getting treys from Zach Thomas and Jackson to come within 45-44 with 47.7 seconds left.

West Vigo added a free throw by Whyatt Easton with 19.6 seconds left for a two-point lead, and Thomas tipped in his own miss at the buzzer on a play which may or may not have been offensive goaltending to force the extra period.

Zach Thomas hit a trey with 2:53 left to put the Clovers ahead by one point, but West Vigo tied the score with a minute to go at 52-52 on another Turner trey.

Kyle Thomas then scored what would be the game-winner on a difficult driving lineup where he went down the lane, hung in the air, pumped several times and was able to levitate long enough to drop the shot.

“Kyle goes in there off balance, hanging in and getting beat on and he is still strong enough to get it up there,” Clover coach Patrick Rady said. “Kyle has seen a lot of physical play, and his work in the weight room is what allows him to make shots like that. I don't think he tires at the end of the game, like he did previously when he was younger.”

Brady Koosman added a pair of free throws with 3.4 seconds left after Jackson got a key defensive rebound of West Vigo’s final shot attempt.

While the Clovers are undersized in terms of height, Rady is proud that they were able to control several key boards down the stretch.

“That's something that we've had to emphasize with our lack of size,” Rady said. “We have to have five guys on the defensive end with the mentality to rebound. We thought we could get defensive rebounds against West Vigo, and we were able to get some of those.

“You can't give a team that shoots as well as West Vigo second and third opportunities.”

Kyle Thomas led the Clovers with 23 points, while Koosman added 12 and Zach Thomas and Jackson had eight each.

The Clovers improved to 10-11 overall with the win, heading into their final weekend of the season.

West Vigo fell to 13-8 despite hitting 10 of 21 shots from 3-point range. Cloverdale hit 10 of 23 shots from long range.

CLOVERDALE (56) – K.Thomas 9-22 1-1 23, Koosman 4-9 2-4 12, Z.Thomas 3-7 0-0 8, Hilton 0-3 0-0 0, Lee 2-2 1-2 5, Jackson 2-4 2-2 8. Totals 20-48 FG, 6-9 FT, 56 TP

WEST VIGO (52) – Tanoos 5-15 1-2 13, Easton 4-13 1-2 11, Kesler 3-7 0-0 9, Beaver 3-5 2-2 8, Martin 1-4 0-0 2, Boehler 1-4 0-0 3, Turner 2-2 0-0 6. Totals 19-50 FG, 4-6 FT, 52 TP

3-point shooting – Cloverdale 10-23 (K.Thomas 4-9, Koosman 2-4, Z.Thomas 2-6, Jackson 2-3), WV 10-21 (Tanoos 2-7, Easton 2-4, Kesler 3-5, Martin 0-1, Boehler 1-2, Turner 2-2). Turnovers – West Vigo 6, Cloverdale 7.