In a town full of basketball tradition, it’s not always a junior varsity team that people are talking about. The JV programs usually consist of players who are preparing for their opportunity to play on the varsity team. In small towns it’s common to see athletes pulled up to the varsity as early as their freshman year, again building the brand of varsity sports teams and sometimes overlooking junior varsity programs. In Cloverdale this was not the case. A senior-driven varsity team with limited space that included seven players that will walk across the stage in June, the JV Eagles benefited by putting a quality group of athletes together to win the 2018 NCL-1 JV league pennant.
The varsity program brought up a 6-foot 5-inch standout freshman Josh Lemley, who at times dominated at the varsity level. First year varsity Coach Pat Fitzgerald made sure to leave a few varsity caliber players on the JV team to give them the valuable game time they may not have achieved at the varsity level. It paid off as the Eagles will be adding another basketball pennant to the wall of the Herb Nunn Memorial Gymnasium.
Junior varsity first-year coach Gordon Hoover did a fantastic job of building a winning team and it didn’t come easy. The team suffered a few injuries to key players at the most inopportune times – and throw in a couple of disciplinary actions and a dreaded eight game road trip to start the season and one might think coach Hoover was a magician at times. If you asked Hoover about the season, he’s the first to give all the credit to his players.
“The four losses are my fault as the coach, the 22 wins were all them,” he said. “They deserve the credit and they worked hard to earn them.”
As a coach, being humble and passing out the credit doesn’t always equate to wins. Coach Hoover put in the time and proved to be very dedicated to his team and the CHS basketball program. Hoover has had his hands in the basketball scene in Cloverdale for many years. He’s been involved in coaching at every level of play, refereeing and filling in wherever needed. He is currently the president of the CHS Eagle Pride Booster Club and if not found in the gym, you may see him at the football games barbecuing for the snack shack or watching his youngest son Spencer out on the baseball diamond when basketball season has ended.
As for the eight-game road trip to start the season, the Eagles went 7-1 in that stretch, with their only loss coming in a 12-point defeat to Clear Lake. Cloverdale eventually swept the Cardinals in league to share the 2018 title with them.
To emphasize the team effort, during the eight-game start five different players led the team in scoring, including standout Chuche Maciel, scoring over 20 points twice while hitting 13 treys over the road trip. Andy Herrera added nine threes and Adrian Gutierrez had 15 from beyond the arc, including six for six in one game and seven of nine from the field for 20 points.
Rebounding specialist Spencer Hoover had 56 rebounds over that period, followed by Keller Sibert with 34 and Collin Patterson bringing down 29 boards. The Eagles would finish the preseason going 3-1.
In the three tournaments the team entered, the Eagles had only two total losses while winning one tournament championship and coming home with two consolation championships. All-tournament honors went to Shayne Turner, Chuche Maciel and Spencer Hoover while Andy Herrera won an MVP award.
Those 12 pre-season games set the tone for league play.
Cloverdale went 12-2 in league play sweeping co-champion Clear Lake while only losing their two games by a total of six points, including a 43-42 loss on the road to Middletown. The first Clear Lake victory came almost entirely due to two players. Maciel scored 29 points and Turner added 26, amassing 55 of the team’s 62 total points.
Statistically the Eagles played their best ball during league action, improving in almost every category. The team put up numbers well above the national average in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks per game in the junior varsity ranks (per MaxPreps). The first half of league the Eagles outscored their opponents by an average of just under 11 points per game, but it took a tough one-point loss to Middletown to motivate the defense to work harder. The Eagles outscored their opponents by almost 23 points per game the remaining six games.
Coach Gordon had many accolades for his players.
“The players were a wonderful group of young men, prompt, well-behaved, focused and determined,” he said. “They were willing to learn and embrace new concepts of unselfish basketball,” he said.
The coach stated how proud he was to be back on the court as a high-school head coach after taking a 15-year break.
“If they learned one thing this year I hope it is that hard work pays off and that working together is key to success,” he noted. “One of the phrases they heard a lot this year was ‘find a way to win’ and they did just that.”
Coach Gordon gave high praise to assistant coach Chano Diaz, while also thanking the parents for all their support in getting the players to and from games and practices. A special thanks goes out to parent Julie Axell for doing the books throughout the season.
