Unbalanced Cloverdale offense falls short at Owen Valley

SPENCER – One quarter of great play and one quarter of poor play did not even out for the Cloverdale Clovers at Owen Valley in boys’ high school basketball action Friday night.

The Clovers’ poor second quarter and great fourth quarter ended up with the Patriots getting a 53-43 victory in a Western Indiana Conference game.

The Clovers only scored one point in the second quarter as they turned the ball over eight times in the stanza. A furious fourth- quarter rally saw them cut the lead to 10 points with three minutes to go, but they would get no closer as the loss dropped the Clovers to 1-10 and 1-5 in the WIC. Owen Valley improved to 4-5 and 2-1 in conference action.

“We have gotten better. We are still really competing. That fourth quarter was probably the best we’ve played all year,” Cloverdale first-year head coach Karl Turk said.

Cloverdale was not intimidated early, jumping out to an early 8-4 lead behind six points from Tayt Jackson, but the Patriots went on a 14-0 run to take a double-digit lead before the Clovers cut the margin to 18-11 at the end of that first period.

“In the first quarter we were up 8-4 and we had a couple of consecutive turnovers and our inexperience showed. The turnover bug got us,” Turk said.

The second period was the killer for Cloverdale. Owen Valley outscored the Clovers 15-1. Cloverdale committed eight turnovers and shot 0-of-4 from the floor as it could not get anything going.

Caden Gonser sparked the Patriots with seven of his 14 points in the period and the Patriots led 33-12 at the intermission.

“In the second quarter we played way too fast. We tried to get it all back at once and in basketball that just doesn’t work,” Turk said.

Cloverdale battled in the third period. It ended up outscoring the Patriots 14-13, but that still left the lead at 46-26 in Owen Valley’s favor. The Clovers were extremely efficient offensively in the quarter as they hit 6-of-10 shots to keep the game reachable.

Cloverdale turned it on in the fourth quarter. The Clovers went on a 14-0 run early in the period. Jackson getting to the rim and Betz knocking in shots from behind the arc propelled the Clovers to cut the deficit to 52-40 with three and half minutes to play, but the Clovers couldn’t quite get it done. Owen Valley was able to knock some time off the clock late with some key offensive rebounds and a couple of missed shots kept the Clovers down double digits as Owen Valley held on for the 53-43 win.

“A couple of critical possessions in the fourth quarter, we gave up offensive rebounds and did not keep them off the glass,” Turk said.

Owen Valley had a balanced offense as it had five players score between 8 and 14 points with Gonser leading the way with 14. Cloverdale’s Jackson led all scorers with 18 and Betz added 13. Levi Johnson knocked in eight points on 4-of-5 shooting for the Clovers.

“Levi had his best game. He has been coming in every day at 6:30 and shooting and it hasn’t shown in the games until tonight. I am so proud of Noah (Betz). He took some coaching in the played his best half in the second half tonight,” Turk said.

The Clovers get a special treat on Saturday as they will travel to Gainbridge fieldhouse in Indianapolis to play the Parke Heritage Wolves at 7 p.m.

CLOVERDALE (43) –Jackson 7-13 1-2 18, Hilton 0-3 0-0 0, Lee 1-4 1-2 3, Betz 5-12 0-0 13, Johnson 4-5 0-0 8, McGuire 0-1 1-2 1, Bates 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-38 FG, 3-6 FT, 43 TP.

OWEN VALLEY (53) – Trevino 0-3 0-0 0, Heckman 4-11 0-0 9, Gonser 5-12 2-2 14, Bixler 4-8 1-2 9, Atkinson 4-8 0-0 8, Kristoff 3-6 0-0 8, Robertson 2-6 1-2 5, Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-54 FG, 4-6 FT, 53 TP.

3-point shooting – CHS 6-18 (Jackson 3-8, Hilton 0-1, Betz 3-8, McGuire 0-1), OV 5-25 (Trevino 0-1, Heckman 1-9, Gonser 2-6, Atkinson 0-2, Kristoff 2-4, Robertson 0-3) Rebounds – CHS 23 (Jackson 5, Hilton 2, Lee 4, Betz 5, Johnson 2, McGuire 1, Bates 1) OV – 29 (Trevino 1, Heckman 5, Gonser 3, Bixler 8, Atkinson 7, Kristoff 2, Robertson 1) FG Pct. – CHS 44.7, OV 40.7. FT Pct. – CHS 50.0, OV 66.7. Turnovers – CHS 20, OV 11.