No luck for T-Birds against Cloverdale

ELNORA -- The Eastern Greene Thunderbirds could have used a clover on Wednesday night as their luck quickly ran out after pulling ahead 19-15 after the first quarter against Cloverdale in the opening game of the Graber Post Buildings Holiday Classic in Elnora.

Cloverdale took control in the second quarter by turning a four points first quarter deficit into a 13-0 run to open the second quarter en route to a 65-51 win over the Thunderbirds to advance to the semi-final round of the tournament played at North Daviess high school.

Eastern Greene (2-5) will play again at 4 p.m. on Friday against the loser between Oldenburg Academy and Evansville Day, while Cloverdale (5-3) will play the winner at 7 p.m. Friday.

Both teams enjoyed early leads in the first quarter with Eastern Greene eventually pulling ahead by four, 19-15, at the end of the first.

But Cloverdale went on a 13-0 run to open the second quarter by using their quickness and trapping the T-Birds into committing 10 of their 25 turnovers in the second quarter.

"We played scared the whole night," said Eastern Greene coach Andy Igel. "Even when we jumped out with that lead there was no, 'We know what we're doing and we're confident.'

"I know we know how to do stuff, we just didn't do it. When you play scared you're not going to be there."

Cloverdale had 10 steals in the second quarter with 6-3 senior Christian Cheatham leading in the department with four in the quarter and five for the game.

Cheatham got the scoring started in the second after a steal and dunk just 52 seconds into the quarter.

Craig Blair picked up back-to-back buckets, followed by another Cheatham lay-up off a steal.

A time-out by Igel did not halt the Cloverdale run as Cheatham and Blair hit lay-ups to extend the run.

The bleeding was finally ended by a Jake Birch field goal, while Cloverdale quickly responded and eventually took a ten point lead (34-24) to the break.

"They've got four or five seniors out there and we had two," said Igel. "We got some freshmen and sophomores out there that are going to have to relax and play basketball. The bad part about this, particularly the first half, was their tenseness got the best of them. It's affected their effort because we didn't get back into transition and we didn't do things we had to do to win."

Cloverdale opened the third quarter with an offensive rebound and lay-up from Cheatham, but Eastern Greene scored five straight points by senior Trent Chitwood to pull within 36-29 with 6:53 remaining in the quarter.

But after a Blair free throw, Michael Neese hit two three pointers, followed by a bank shot from Cheatham and a inside score from Blair to extend Cloverdale's lead to 47-31 with 2:39 to play in the quarter.

"We underestimated their quickness and I was telling my coaches on the way down that you can't tell how quick someone is just by watching a tape," Igel confessed. "You've got to watch them up close and they're pretty damn quick.

"Give them a lot of credit. They attacked us and the trap was the difference in the game no matter what. When they put the trap on, the game turned around. We had guys in corners and there was nothing I could do. Everyone I put in, the same thing happened. It was a helpless feeling as a coach because we worked and we knew they were going to trap. They didn't respond very well."

The T-Birds managed two baseline shots from David Gray and Sarchet to cut into the Cloverdale lead heading into the fourth quarter, 49-37.

Sarchet managed to find is way to the basket to open the fourth quarter to bring the T-Birds to within 10, but Cloverdale put any doubts of the outcome away with a 9-0 run.

"We're a long way from where we need to be," Igel confirmed after the loss. "I told them, if we are willing to get better, we will get better. We have a lot of games the next couple of weeks to see how they go. I know there's potential with this team.

"We're so far away from there right now it's not funny. I've been in this business too long not to know we've got some talent. We just have to figure out what intensity level it takes to win at the varsity level."

Cloverdale had three players in double figures with Neese leading the way with 20 points thanks to a 4 of 8 performance behind the arc.

Blair added 19, while Cheatham scored 16.

The Thunderbirds were led by Chitwood's 17 points followed by Sarchet with 11.

CLOVERDALE CLOVERS 65

 Craig Blair 7-17 3-5 4 19, Seth Trinkle 1-3 1-2 3 3, Christian Cheatam 7-13 2-5 5 16, Ryan Dean 1-4 0-0 5 2, Michael Neese 8-12 0-0 3 20, Ryan Shoulders 2-2 0-0 2 4, Justin Hacker 0-0 0-0 0 0, Michael Glassburn 0-0 1-2 1 1, Brandon Moon 0-0 0-0 0 0. Totals: 26-51 FG, 7-14 FT, 23 R, 65 TP

 EASTERN GREENE THUNDERBIRDS 51

 David Gray (g) 1-8 0-0 4 2, Jeremy Stanger (g) 3-7 0-0 3 6, Trent Chitwood (c) 6-14 4-6 7 17, Geordi McLennan (f) 1-1 2-2 3 4, Jake Birch (f) 2-6 0-0 1 5, Ben Arthur 1-3 0-0 2 2, Jon Costello 0-1 0-0 0 0, Garrett Sachet 5-6 0-0 2 11, Ryan Wilcoxen 0-0 2-2 0 2, Drew Igel 0-0 0-0 0 0, David McNeal 1-1 0-0 0 2, Brian Boyer 0-0 0-0 0 0. Totals: 20-47 TP, 8-10 FT, 22 R, 51 TP.

 Cloverdale. . . . . . 15 18 15 16 - 65

Eastern Greene. . . .19 05 13 14 - 51

 3-pointers: Cloverdale 4-12 (Blair 0-4, Neese 4-8). Eastern Greene 3-8 (Stanger 0-2, Chitwood 1-1, Birch 1-3, Sarchet 1-2). Personal Fouls: Cloverdale 11, Eastern Greene 11. Assists: Cloverdale 15, Eastern Greene 9. Steals: Cloverdale 14, Eastern Greene 8. Blocks: Cloverdale 4, Eastern Greene 4. Turnovers: Cloverdale 16, Eastern Greene 24.