In a game that saw Fair Grove and Walnut Grove combine for 164 points, 15 made 3-pointers and five guys score at least 20 points, it was surprisingly a guy that didn’t score a single point that made the biggest impact on the game.
Meet Dalton Cloyd.
The 5-foot-10 junior put together one of the most impressive individual defense efforts of the season in the second quarter, sparking Class 3 No. 3 Fair Grove to a 22-7 advantage, and leading the Eagles to a 92-72 win over Class 1 No. 2 Walnut Grove in the championship of the Sparta Tournament.
Photos: Fair Grove vs. Walnut Grove – CLICK HERE
“He had a great tournament,” said Fair Grove coach Tim Brown. “He did some things last night too for our defense and fixed a lot of holes as a help defender. Tonight he was awesome on and off the ball and he really sparked us in the second quarter. He’s a winner, he’s a junkyard dog and there’s not anyone more competitive than him in our school. He had an awesome year on the football field and he’s carried that over into basketball and we feed off of his energy and toughness.”
With standout junior Garrett Kesterson going to the bench with foul trouble, Cloyd came in and drew the task of guard Logan Thomazin. Walnut Grove’s sophomore guard scored 39 points in Friday’s semifinal and had 14 first-quarter points in Saturday’s championship.
Behind a burst that saw him hit four 3s in less than four minutes, Walnut Grove led 16-11 late in the first before Fair Grove rallied for a 20-18 lead at the end of the quarter.
“I thought we came out with a lot of energy to start,” said Walnut Grove coach Darin Meinders. “I know Logan can shoot it. When you have a kid like Logan that can shoot it, you get him the ball. He was really hot early.”
Cloyd’s defensive effort, as well as the interior production of 6-foot-7 junior Evan Fullerton and 6-foot-4 sophomore Steven Huskey, forced Thomazin into contested jumpers and allowed Fair Grove to live in transition in the second and third quarters, which is exactly where the Eagles want to be.
Fair Grove outscored Walnut Grove 48-28 in the second and third quarters, giving the Eagles a 68-46 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Walnut Grove’s roster doesn’t include a starter taller than 6-foot-3.
“If our bigs play like they have in the last four games then we are a pretty good team,” said Brown. “With them we have pieces that not everyone else has. Evan has an incredible skillset and Steven has been a super sophomore and embraces that blue-collar role. When those two guys play that way, protect the rim and the paint, we can get out and do what we do best.”
The fourth quarter was an absolute track meet with the two teams combining to score 50 points.
Junior Garrett Kesterson finished with a game-high 31 points, 26 of those came after halftime, with 16 coming in the third quarter alone. Partner in crime Kyle Cavanaugh, who was also named the tournament MVP, finished with 27 points. Fullerton and Huskey added 20 and 14 respectively.
Fair Grove is 6-0 when Kesterson and Cavanaugh each score 20 or more points.
Thomazin finished with a game-high 32 points, while senior guard Dallas Meinders added 23 despite missing a chunk of the first half with foul trouble. Jaron Dishman chipped in 12 for the Tigers.
The loss, Walnut Grove’s first of the season, may have ended the Tigers’ hopes for an unblemished state championship run, but that’s it.
Playing and competing with one of the state’s best Class 3 teams will bode well for Walnut Grove moving forward and while ultra-competitive coach Darin Meinders wasn’t happy with the loss, he understands where is team stands in the grand scheme of things.
“There’s no such thing as a good loss, but we got it out of the way, and I think some people were worried about it,” said Meinders. “We won’t see anyone with the size or athleticism they have in Class 1 so in the future that will make us better. But our goal is always to take the goal and win. Our kids fought to the very end. We don’t like to lose, but I was proud that our kids kept battling and in the long run this game will help us in the future. Our kids are fighters, we’ll be back.”
Fair Grove has now won eight straight since losing to Kickapoo in the Blue and Gold Tournament semifinals.
The Eagles are averaging 75 PPG during that stretch and have beaten five of those opponents by 20 or more points.
Everything is coming together just in time for Fair Grove to make a run at ending rival Strafford’s dominance in the Mid-Lakes Conference and Class 3 overall in the Ozarks. Saturday’s win was about continuing to advance the status of the program.
“Walnut Grove is a good team and I look for them to maybe run the table and put a banner on the wall and that’s something we talked about,” said Brown. “We have a lot of respect for them and we think they’re really good, but we talked about maybe making sure there’s one loss on that banner and hopefully it’s us.
I thought we handle the atmosphere and the environment well. We’ve got a group of kids that have played since they were freshmen and sophomores and they’ve played in a lot of championship games. We haven’t always come out on the good side, but to build a program and a culture you’ve got to play in those games. We looked like we were comfortable in the moment tonight.”
Senior Kyle Cavanaugh hopes that the win can be a springboard for the Eagles.
“This is definitely something we can build on moving forward,” said Cavanaugh. “This was a big game and can help us with our ultimate goal of making it to the Final Four. Now we just have to focus and take it one game at a time.”
