Boys basketball: Cloverleaf falters at free throw line, loses to Coventry

COVENTRY TWP. — Cruz Severson passed his first varsity head coaching test with flying colors, but the 2020 Cloverleaf graduate and the Colts boys basketball team didn't get a win. With head coach Jack Banks sidelined due to illness, Severson pushed the right buttons and made the correct adjustments, but Cloverleaf fell 48-47 to Coventry on Friday in Metro Athletic Conference action because it couldn't make free throws in the fourth quarter. "That was insane for the first game," Severson said. "I wasn't expecting anything like that. I'm just glad I got to be in this environment with these kids." The Colts (7-11, 5-8), who lost to the Comets (9-11, 8-5) 85-78 in double overtime on Jan. 3, led 47-46 but missed two free throws with 22.6 seconds to play, making them 7-for-15 in the fourth quarter. The Comets got the ball to midcourt and called time with 16.1 ticks on the clock and subsequently missed a wide-open 12-footer on the baseline, but Jaden Keenan came down with a long rebound and was fouled with 4.1 seconds left. Keenan calmly made both ends of the one-and-one and Severson called two timeouts — he had one more left — before Peyton McConnell inbounded from the baseline and got the ball to 6-foot-8 center Logan Forbes near midcourt. Forbes, who was held to a season-low five points but grabbed six rebounds while playing just 17 minutes due to foul trouble, tried to dribble and lost the ball in a scrum as time expired. "(Free throws) are important because it came down to the last shot of the game," said Cloverleaf small forward Carter Whitehair, who had 20 points on five 3-pointers and five free throws. "If we make more of them, we're in a better position and we can hold the ball on them." The Colts got 12 points, four rebounds and two assists from point guard Marty Moran, but he and Whitehair were the only Cloverleaf players to score more than five points. Zak Brownson matched Forbes for team rebounding honors with six. Cloverleaf had just 16 points in the middle quarters, when it was 4-for-19 from the field, and made just 13 field goals in the game. Coventry struggled just as much, falling behind 9-0 and trailing 16-6 after the first period, when it was 2-for-12 from the field en route to an 18-for-54 performance for the night. The Comets won due to their offensive rebounding and a 14-2 run that lasted from the 4:50 mark of the third period until 6:56 left in the game. Coventry took its first lead at 32-30 with 2:33 left in the third and led 39-32 at the end of its spurt, but the Colts pulled even at 41 and led 47-44 with 43.1 seconds left. That margin would have been more had they made free throws. "It just came down to the last few possessions," Whitehair said. "We as a team needed to take care of the ball and grab rebounds." Braden Clark, who had 15 of his team's 18 points with 20 seconds left in the first half, led the Comets with 20 points and nine rebounds. Point guard Malachi Austin had four points, seven boards and two assists and backup center Chris Wilcox contributed seven big points and six rebounds. "When you don't have someone 6-8, it's hard," Severson said. "It's hard to replace size, but these kids have heart." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter. Coventry 48, Cloverleaf 47 CLOVERLEAF 16 9 7 15 — 47 6 17 11 14 — 48 Cloverleaf — Carter Whitehair 5-5-20, Zach Brownson 0-0-0, Logan Forbes 1-3-5, Ty Novak 2-0-4, Marty Moran 3-6-12, Cam Paladenic 0-0-0, Gavin Cauley 1-1-3, Peyton McConnell 1-1-3. TOTALS: 13-16-47. Coventry — Ryan Dinan 2-0-5, Braden Clark 9-1-20, Reggie Edwards 1-1-3, Jaden Keenan 1-5-7, Malachi Austin 2-0-4, Chris Wilcox 2-2-7, Conner Juersevich 0-0-0, Matt Skaggs 0-0-0, Lucas Futrell 1-0-2, Donovan Harris 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18-9-48. 3-point goals — Whitehair 5, Clark, Wilcox, Dinan. Rebounds — Cloverleaf 24 (Forbes, Brownson 6), Coventry 32 (Clark 9). Assists — Cloverleaf 5 (Novak 3), Coventry 8 (Austi, Clark, Edwards 2). Records — Cloverleaf (7-11, 5-8), Coventry (9-11, 8-5). Junior varsiy — Coventry 45, Cloverleaf 36 (Cl: Troy Hlucky 11).