Josh Burelison goes up for a shot over two Marion Local defenders in the Buccs' 55-47 win.

2001-02 Season 2001-02 Covington Buccaneers 2001-02 Buccaneer Cheerleaders Jason Meyer goes on to college...

11/30/01 12/01/01 12/07/01 12/08/01 12/14/01 12/15/01 12/21/01 12/22/01 12/28/01 12/29/01 01/04/02 01/05/02 01/11/02 01/12/02 01/18/02 01/25/02 02/01/02 02/02/02 02/08/02 02/15/02 02/19/02 02/23/02 03/01/02 03/08/02 at Arcanum at Fairlawn Miss. Valley at Tipp City at Franklin Monroe Dayton Christian Newton at Anna Russia Marion Local at National Trail at Milton Union Tri Village Versailles Bethel Twin Valley South Tri County North Miami East at Ansonia at Bradford BRADFORD ANNA FORT LORAMIE CEDARVILLE W 79-47 L 70-76 W 72-49 W 53-49 W 63-53 W 55-50 W 70-39 W 52-49 L 57-58 W 55-47 W 58-43 W 73-53 W 56-45 W 68-56 L 64-68 L 53-55 W 67-64 W 54-47 W 88-51 W 88-65 W 84-55 W 97-58 W 66-50 L 39-48 Team Covington Bethel Tri-County North Tri-Village Twin Valley South Newton Franklin Monroe Arcanum National Trail Ansonia Mississinawa Valley Bradford CCC 9-2 9-2 9-2 9-2 8-3 6-5 5-6 4-7 3-8 2-9 2-9 0-11 ALL 16-4 16-4 16-4 14-6 15-5 10-10 9-11 5-15 5-15 4-16 3-17 0-20

December 29, 2001 – COVINGTON
Coming into the final weekend of 2001 the Buccs knew they had their hands full with two great teams in Russia and Marion Local. Last night the Buccs struggled against undefeated Russia and lost by 1. The loss left many people wondering if the Buccs could bounce back in less than 24 hours and play another physical game against another great team in Marion Local and come out on top. Well, the Buccs did bounce back and they did it with heart and determination.

Similar to last night's games against Russia, the early going was tough as both teams played solid defense. The Buccs jumped out to a 4-0 lead but Marion Local knocked down two shots of their own to tie the score. The Buccs again took the lead at 9-6 but the Flyers nailed a 3-pointer to tie the score at 9 to end the quarter.

Both teams took turns taking the lead in the second as the lead switch hands 6 times in the period. Alex Hague nailed a critical 3-pointer and tipped in a missed Jarod Meyer shot to give the Buccs a 22-19 lead with 2:00 to go in the half. Neither team could get much going the rest of the half as both defenses made it difficult to get open looks at the basket. As the buzzer sounded to end the first half the Buccs held a slim 24-21 lead.

The Buccs extended their lead in the third to 31-24 with a Bert Roeth 3-pointer. Marion Local struggled to get their offense going after several missed opportunities under the basket. Marion Local was able to cut the Buccs' lead to 33-27 but Jason Meyer extended the lead to 8 points right before the end of the period with a jumper.

The intensity level increased in the final period as Marion Local began chipping away at the Buccs' lead. The Flyers hit on a 3-pointer to make the score 35-30 but Jarod Meyer pushed the lead back to 7 points with a jumper of his own. The Buccs then went cold from the floor as Marion Local appeared to take over the game. With 4:44 left in the game, Marion Local closed the gap at 38-37 which forced a Buccaneer timeout. Jason Meyer then hit two jumpers to push the lead back to 5 points with 3:00 to go. Both teams shared buckets and the Flyers hit on one free throw to make the score 45-41 with 2:00 to go. The Flyers fouled Jason Meyer which stretched the Buccs' lead to 47-41 and forced Marion Local to foul. The Buccs converted on their free throws down the stretch and built a 55-41 lead with under 1:00 to go in the game. Marion Local hit on two straight 3-pointers to end the game but the Buccs walked away with the 55-47 win.

The Buccs end 2001 on a high note and improve to 8-2 on the year. The Buccs get back to conference play as they travel to National Trail on January 4th and Milton Union on January 5th to begin the new year.

Scoring Breakdown:
Jason Meyer – 23
Bert Roeth – 11
Jarod Meyer – 8
Derick Brumbaugh – 6
Alex Hague – 5
Josh Burelison – 2

Rebounding Breakdown
Derick Brumbaugh – 7
Jason Meyer – 7
Jarod Meyer – 5
Bert Roeth – 4
Alex Hague – 2
Clint Mohler – 2
Josh Burelison – 2
Mike Molesky – 1

Buccs Are In Good Hands...
The players get the headlines and the glory but the coaches take the heat when things go bad. Luckily the Buccaneer coaches haven't taken much heat this season because the Buccs are winning and playing solid basketball.

What does it take to build a solid basketball team? It's much more than just having talented players. It takes hours upon hours of preparation and having a philosophy that the players buy into and believe in.

Roger Craft and Steve Dunn have learned under some of the best coaches to ever coach in the area. Roger was an assistant to Steve Fisher for years while Fisher was the Buccs' coach in the mid 80's to late 90's. Steve Dunn played under legendary coach, Bob Huelsman, and has learned under Fisher and now Craft. The pedigree is one that goes back almost 30 years with Roger Craft and Steve Dunn at the helm.

Back to what it takes to build a successful program… I saw first hand in about 10 minutes what Coach Craft brings to the table. I stopped by the school on a Saturday morning to pick up stats for the website after the Fairlawn game. Coach Craft was there watching film and taking notes. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked like he didn't sleep all night. Actually, he didn't get much sleep that night because he was watching game film, trying to prepare for the next game and figure out what went wrong the night before. It blew me away that he was that dedicated to give these kids every advantage they needed to be successful on the floor. This is high school where a coach makes chump change compared to a college coach or a pro coach. Still, he was there for the love of the kids and the game.

There is probably much more that Coach Craft does to prepare his team for battle but all we see as spectators is what happens on game nights. We don't see the endless hours the coaches spend and it probably hasn't crossed too many people's minds. Their sacrifice benefits the kids and the community.