Dustin Kimmel battles a Miami East defender for two points.

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

February 7, 2004 – COVINGTON
The first 11 minutes of tonight's game against Miami East was a nightmare for the Covington Buccaneers. Not only did they fall behind 24-8 and have Dustin Kimmel forced to the bench with his third foul, the Buccs also lost their leading scorer with an ankle injury.

Only 2:10 seconds into the game, Covington's leading scorer, rebounder and emotional leader, Matt McCord turned an ankle. For nearly 5:00 he laid flat on the floor as the Covington faithful fell silent. This after an emotional night which included the Lady Buccs defeat at the hands of Miami East and the induction of new members into the Covington Athletic Hall of Fame.

Luckily for the Buccs and McCord, his injury wasn't serious, although he was forced to miss the rest of the game.

Unable to gain any offensive rhythm, the Buccs only managed 4 points in the first stanza, while Miami East scored 12.

East continued to burn the nets to start the second by outscoring the Buccs 10-2 in the first 2:00 of the period. After Kimmel stopped the bleeding with a layup, he picked up his third foul and was forced to the bench for the remainder of the half.

With McCord out and Kimmel on the bench, the Buccs regrouped in time to salvage the first half and keep the game from getting out of hand. Covington went on a 9-0 run on baskets by Gene Studebaker, Dusty Rhoades, Dallas Burelison and a trey by Darin Rhoades.

After a 3-pointer by East's Kyle Vanover pushed the Viking lead to 27-17, Covington cut the margin in half on a second trey by Darin Rhoades and a layup by Studebaker. This made the score 27-22 with Miami East leading at the half.

After Armstrong opened the second half with a jumper, Covington closed the gap to 29-27 on a basket by Studebaker and a 3-pointer by Dallas Burelison. That would be as close as Covington would get the rest of the night as East increased their lead to 41-34 after three periods of play.

With their depth minimized by the absence of McCord, the Buccs failed to keep pace with the Vikings over the final 8:00. Miami East increased their lead to 48-36 with 5:05 to go and then sank 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch for a 54-44 win.

Freshman Gene Studebaker paced the Buccs with 13 points while Dusty Rhoades knocked down a season-high 12 points.

Kyle Vanover led East with a game-high 18 points and Derek Mumma scored 17 points on the night.

Covington drops to 12-7 and finishes out the season at Ansonia on February 17. Both Ansonia and Covington are unbeaten in the CCC.

Scoring by quarters:
Covington.......4....22.....34......44
Miami East.....12....27.....41......54

Records:
Covington – 13-7, 9-0

Covington Scoring:
Gene Studebaker – 13
Dusty Rhoades – 12
Dustin Kimmel – 7
Dallas Burelison – 5
Darin Rhoades – 3
Brady Reck – 2
T.J. Warner – 2

Miami East Scoring:
Kyle Vanover – 18
Derek Mumma – 17
Simon Armstrong – 12
Nic Rice – 3
David Wagner – 2
Jeff Welbaum – 2