Matt McCord scored 37 points and pulled down 20 rebounds for the Buccs.

2003-04 Season Preview 2003-04 Covington Buccaneers 2003-04 Buccaneer Cheerleaders Matt McCord – CCC Player of the Year

12/05/03 12/06/03 12/12/03 12/19/03 12/23/03 12/27/03 12/30/03 01/02/04 01/03/04 01/09/04 01/10/04 01/16/04 01/17/04 01/23/04 01/24/04 01/30/04 02/03/04 02/06/04 02/07/04 02/17/04 02/27/04 03/03/04 03/06/04 at Bradford at Fairlawn at Arcanum Mississinawa Valley at New Bremen Marion Local Russia at Franklin Monroe at Milton Union Newton at Tipp City at National Trail Versailles Tri-Village at Anna Bethel Tri-County North Twin Valley South Miami East at Ansonia Botkins Troy Christian Russia W67-32 W75-63 W70-54 W50-40 L48-61 L45-59 L56-62 W57-45 W58-44 W61-47 L48-50 W63-59 L40-68 W66-50 L50-55 W47-37 W86-40 W55-50 L44-54 L44-60 W56-53 W58-45 L43-63 Team CCC ALL Ansonia 11-0 18-2 Covington 10-1 12-8 National Trail 9-2 17-3 Bethel 4-4 8-6 Twin Valley South 5-4 9-6 Newton 4-4 6-9 Tri-Village 4-4 7-8 Arcanum 4-4 6-9 Tri-County North 1-8 2-13 Franklin Monroe 1-7 5-10 Mississinawa Valley 2-5 2-10 Bradford 0-11 1-19

December 13, 2003 – ARCANUM
Matt McCord made a name for himself on the football field this fall by setting school rushing records and leading the Buccs to another 10-0 season. Now, McCord is making headlines on the hardwood.

After scoring 34 points and pulling down 22 rebounds last week against Fairlawn, McCord duplicated that effort with 37 points and 20 rebounds tonight against Arcanum. For his effort, McCord and the Buccs were treated to a 70-54 win over the Trojans to remain unbeaten at 3-0.

"Matt's playing well," said Covington coach Roger Craft. "He's aggressive taking the ball to the basket and going after rebounds."

McCord started the Buccs off with a layup after an Arcanum free throw. Two more McCord baskets, a jumper by Dustin Kimmel and a 3-pointer by Darin Rhoades, and the Buccs were up 11-8 after the first period.

Covington nearly broke the game open in the second as they torched the nets for 26 points in the period. McCord racked up 10 points in the stanza while Darin Rhoades canned two 3-pointers. At the half Covington led 37-27 despite missing all six of their free throw attempts.

"If there's one thing that bothered me, it's our free throw shooting," commented coach Craft. "We were only 11 of 28 from the line and that's not very good."

Despite their poor shooting from the charity stripe, the Buccs continued to roll in the second half. After a Kimmel layup to start the third, McCord again took over. McCord scored 12 of Covington's 14 points in the period while Arcanum only managed 8 points.

With a 51-38 lead to begin the final period, the Buccs nearly let Arcanum back into the game. After McCord and Kimmel connected on jumpers and a free throw, Arcanum went on a 13-2 run to cut the Covington lead to 58-51.

Covington's Ross Mohler finally ended the run with two free throws and Covington cruised to a 70-54 win.

""I'm proud of the kids and the way they play so hard on defense," complemented coach Craft. "It was a total team effort tonight. Dusty Rhoades set the tone with the way he pressured the ball. Dallas (Burelison) and Gene (Studebaker) came off of the bench and performed very well. Our defense was the key tonight."

Another key was the Buccaneers' rebounding edge of 43-16.

"That was huge," continued coach Craft. "When you double up your opponent in rebounds, you will win a lot of games. Also, when you have an edge in offensive rebounds like we did (16-3), that means second scoring opportunities. Your best shot is always your second shot and we had a lot of those tonight."

With a 3-0 record after only winning 3 games all of last season, coach Craft looks no further then his seniors as to why the Buccs have been able to turn the tables this early in the season.

"Our seniors have really stepped up," said Craft. "Kids like Brady Reck and Ross Mohler are why we have won three straight games on the road. Brady hit a big shot for us early and having his presence on the floor is a big difference. It's really nice to see him having fun after what he went through last year with his knee injury."

Covington improves to 3-0 on the season and 2-0 in the Cross County Conference. They have a week off until next Friday's home opener against Mississinawa Valley.

Covington Scoring:
Matt McCord – 37
Darin Rhoades – 9
Dustin Kimmel – 11
Brady Reck – 3
Ross Mohler – 5
Dallas Burelison – 3
Gene Studebaker – 2
Dusty Rhoades – 0

Arcanum Scoring:
Andy Via – 19
Trace Weidner – 13
Adam Schwieterman – 10
Mike Eilerman – 7
Logan Beam – 4
Ryan Bevins – 1

Scoring by quarters:
Covington.......11....37.....51......70
Arcanum..........8.....27.....38......54

Records:
Covington 3-0, Arcanum 2-1