Braves use 31-point run to down Clovers

CLOVERDALE – For six minutes the host Cloverdale Clovers were in a tight boys’ high school basketball game against the Indian Creek Braves.

Indian Creek proceeded to score 31-straight points between late in the first quarter until early in the third period to cruise to a 63-18 victory on Al Tucker Court. The Clovers were scoreless for over 12 game minutes and saw the Braves push up to a 42-8 lead and pick up the victory.

The loss drops the Clovers to 0-5 and 0-3 in the Western Indiana Conference. Indian Creek is now 3-2 and 3-0 in WIC action.

“It was like an avalanche. We just couldn’t get it stopped,” Cloverdale head coach Karl Turk said.

Indian Creek shot a blistering 61 percent on 27-of-45 shooting, while the offensively-challenged Clovers hit just 6-of-30 shots on the night and turned the ball over three times as much as the Braves, 21-7.

Cloverdale battled early. After falling behind 9-2, the Clovers rallied to cut the lead to 11-8 on two Mcguire Lee free throws with 1:53 left in the first quarter. Lee had six of the Clover’s eight points in the quarter, but a late trey by Jackson Wise gave the Braves a 14-8 lead at the end of the period.

The wheels came off for the Clovers in the second quarter. Indian Creek just seemed to score at will. The visitors knocked down 10-of-15 shots in the period with Brady Connell coming off the bench and knocking down three shots from long-range en route to a 13-point quarter for the Braves. Cloverdale had 11 turnovers and missed all seven shots it took.

“That is the first time we have seen a zone like that. Most teams pack a zone back in, but they are aggressive and anticipating the next pass. We could not get past that,” Turk said as Indian Creek would take a 40-8 lead at halftime with the 26-point quarter.

Cloverdale’s Tayt Jackson ended the scoring drought a minute into the third quarter as he pulled up and hit a three-pointer, but that was the only points the Clovers would mange in the quarter as Indian Creek continued to extend its lead with the running clock. The Braves would lead 56-11 heading into quarter number four.

“You look at our roster and we have juniors and seniors, but we are very inexperienced. We have some kids who haven’t played for a while and Noah Betz missed all last year injured. The speed of the game was too much for us,” Turk said.

The final quarter played itself out quickly with the running clock as the Braves continued to extend the lead to the final 63-18 margin.

Indian Creek’s Connell led all scorers with 15 points and Landon Sichting had 13 for the Braves. Jackson and Lee led the Clovers with six points each.

“We will continue to get better. We kept fighting and did not give up physically. I thought mentally, we didn’t keep in the game. I did see Scottie Mcguire really do some good things. He hit the floor about as many times as the basketball in the fourth quarter,” Turk said.

The Clovers get the rest of the weekend off before traveling to county and conference rival South Putnam on Dec. 13.

INDIAN CREEK (63) – Crouch 2-3 1-2 5, Emberton 4-9 0-0 8, Pemberton 2-3 0-0 4, Modlin 2-2 0-0 4, Sichting 6-11 0-0 13, Wise 3-6 0-0 7, Connell 5-7 2-2 15, Lowhorn 3-4 0-0 7, Pappas 0-0 0-0 0, Statts 0-0 0-0 0, Fleetwood 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-45 FG, 3-4 FT, 63 TP.

CLOVERDALE (18) – Johnson 1-5 0-0 2, Jackson 2-6 0-0 6, Betz 0-7 0-0 0, Hilton 0-1 0-0 0, Lee 1-5 4-4 6, McGuire 1-3 0-0 2, Monnett 1-3 0-0 2, Miller 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 6-30 FG, 4-4 FT, 18 TP.

3-point shooting – IC 6-13 (Pemberton 0-1, Sichting 1-2, Wise 1-3, Connell 3-5, Lowhorn 1-2), CHS 2-14 (Johnson 0-2, Jackson 2-5, Betz 0-5, Monnett 0-2). Rebounds – IC 22 (Crouch 3, Emberton 5, Modlin 5, Sichting 5, Pappas 1, Connell 1) CHS – 20 (Johnson 2, Jackson 3, Betz 6, Hilton 2, Lee 3, McGuire 2, Monnett 1) FG Pct. – IC 61.4, CHS 20.0. FT Pct. – IC 75.0, CHS 100.0. Turnovers – IC 7, CHS 21.