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Jason Meyer and Alex Hague show their emotion after a disappointing loss to Cedarville at UD Arena.
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Team
Covington
Bethel
Tri-County North
Tri-Village
Twin Valley South
Newton
Franklin Monroe
Arcanum
National Trail
Ansonia
Mississinawa Valley
Bradford
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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
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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
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March 8, 2002 – DAYTON
It wasn't supposed to end this way…not with this group of kids. These kids accomplished to much over the past few years for their dream season to end this way. They wanted to go farther then any Covington teams has. They wanted to end their season on top of the world.
But… the fact that they were upset tonight at UD Arena doesn't diminish their accomplishments of this season and of the past three seasons. These kids gave us many memories and left everything they had on the court. Although they are hurting right now, they can hold their heads high because they gave us the opportunity to watch some of the best basketball ever played by a Covington Buccaneer team.
This team may have been the best team to ever play at Covington. Sure, the teams of the late 70's and early '80s may have an argument but nobody can argue the fact the four players from this years team have over 700 career points and one player has 1,492 career points. Nobody can argue that this group of seniors may have been the best group of seniors top to bottom to come along at one time.
To get to where this team wanted to go you have to be very good and have a little luck. Tonight the Buccs had very little luck. Their shots just were not dropping and they failed to catch any breaks. On many occasions the Buccs were in position for a rebound or a steal but the ball didn't bounce the right way. The result was a 48-39 loss at the hands of a Cedarville team that was looking to revenge last season's last second defeat at the hands of the Buccs.
This was a game that was a tail of two teams with different playing styles. The Buccs wanted an up-tempo game while Cedarville wanted to slow the game down. It was evident early that Cedarville was going to forced the Buccs to play a half-court game. The tried to get the ball out in front so they could run the floor but they had trouble converting on open looks at the basket. Josh Burelison and Jason Meyer scored 15 out of the Buccs' 19 first half points which was an indication that shots would not fall. Cedarville went into the half with a 22-19 lead and the game going the way they wanted.
The third period was more of the same as each team traded baskets. After Cedarville increased their lead to 27-21, Jarod Meyer canned two-straight jumpers to close the cap to 27-25. Cedarville closed out the third on a 6-2 run to go into the final 8 minutes with an 8-point lead.
The beginning of the fourth appeared to be Bucc Basketball. After Cedarville went up 37-35 on a lay-up, Jason Meyer drilled a 3-pointer and Josh Burelison converted a steal into a lay-up to close the gap to 5. After the Indians hit a free throw, Jason Meyer canned another 3-pointer and suddenly the Buccs were within 3 with 3:30 left.
After a Cedarville time-out, Clint Mohler cut the Indian's lead to 38-36 on a free throw but that was as close as the Buccs would get. Two buckets by the Indians pushed their lead to 42-36 until Josh Burelison canned a 3-pointer with 1:17 left to put the Buccs within striking distance.
Cedarville put the game away, however, as they snuck through the back door with a lay-up and then hit 4 out of 6 free throws in the final minutes to take a 48-37 win and advance to the Regionals.
The Buccs end their season at 19-5 and as District Runner-Ups.
Buccs Scoring:
Jason Meyer – 14
Josh Burelison – 12
Bet Roeth – 6
Jarod Meyer – 6
Clint Mohler – 1
