Boys basketball: Cloverleaf coughs up lead, but recovers to beat Canton South

CANTON TWP. — Just when it looked like the Cloverleaf boys basketball team might collapse under pressure Friday night, the Colts instead looked like a team ready for the postseason. Cloverleaf lost an 11-point lead and fell behind three times in the fourth quarter before dominating the final three minutes of a thrilling 53-46 non-league victory over Canton South. Wildcats faithful provided a home-court advantage that grew more raucous with every basket in the second half. South trimmed the Colts' 27-16 lead midway through the third quarter to 30-28 early in the fourth with a run that saw Ja'Marcus Jones, Sam Miller and Ronan Lang each score four points, and Cloverleaf seemed headed toward a fourth consecutive loss. Braylyn Terrell gave the Wildcats their first lead since 2-0 with a 3-pointer with 6:02 left for a 34-32 edge. The teams exchanged the lead six times over the next three minutes. Following a three by Miller that gave South (8-13) the lead at 40-39, Cloverleaf guard Issac Smith (16 points, 5 assists, 3 steals) scored the first six points of a game-closing 14-6 run. "They got on a little run," Smith said. "We didn't really let it kill us. We just kept playing and doing what we were doing." Cloverleaf (11-10) also got big fourth-quarter buckets from Jackson James (9 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists), Kellen Price (7, 5, 1), Owen Brownson (6, 2, 1) and Jimmy Tolley (8, 4, 0). With the win, the Colts are one victory away from guaranteeing a winning record with the regular-season finale today at Andrews Osborne. "That was an exciting one," Price said. "Heading into the tournament, we need the energy up. We needed to hype the whole team up, and that was a good way to get that." Price was instrumental in sparking Cloverleaf early, scoring his team's first five points in a 9-0 run to put the Colts up 9-2. "Coming out hot always helps us," he said. "It helps us the whole game. It keeps our energy and mojo. In every way it helps. It's great to have that." The Colts went on a 10-1 run through most of the second quarter, ballooning its lead to 21-10 before Lang (17 points, 6 rebounds) scored the final bucket of the half. Cloverleaf looked like it was headed toward allowing a season low in points after carrying a 21-12 lead into halftime and forcing eight turnovers. "We knew defense was going to win us this game," Smith said. "We knew we needed to stop some of their guys. Some of them still scored, but we just kept playing. The defense was very big. To hold a team to 12 points in one half is very good." The Wildcats hit four of their five 3-pointers in the second half to cut into Cloverleaf's lead. Behind Lang, Miller scored 10 points and Jones came off the bench to score 12 with eight rebounds. Point guard Landon White went scoreless, but had eight assists. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Cloverleaf 53, Canton South 46 CLOVERLEAF 11 10 9 23 — 53 CANTON SOUTH 7 5 14 20 — 46 Cloverleaf — Jackson James 3-2-9, Justus Sohosky 1-0-2, Jimmy Tolley 4-0-8, Kellen Price 3-0-7, Isaac Smith 6-3-16, Owen Brownson 3-0-6, Damien Reed 1-0-2, Brody Adams 0-0-0, Zayne Trent 1-0-3, Vincent Hinderman 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22-5-53. Canton South — Braylyn Terrell 2-0-5, Nathan Shaffer 0-0-0, Ronan Lang 7-1-17, Sam Miller 4-0-10, Landon White 0-0-0, Ja'Marcus Jones 6-0-12, Jamarein Gatin 1-0-2, Nick Stewart 0-0-0. TOTALS: 20-1-46. 3-point goals — James, Price, Trent, Smith, Lang 2, Miller 2, Terrell. Rebounds — Canton South 28 (Jones 8), Cloverleaf 24 (Sohosky, Price 5). Assists — Cloverleaf 14 (Smith 5), Canton South 12 (White 8). Records — Cloverleaf (11-10), Canton South (8-13). Junior varsity — Cloverleaf 51, Canton South 46 (Cl: Elliot Jordan 12).