Untitled Page
 |
|
Dustin Kimmel scored all 11 of his points in the first half to get the Buccs rolling.
|
|
|
Untitled Page
|
Untitled Page
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
January 2, 2004 – PITSBURG
They've heard about, thought about it, and took extra practice to try and correct it. Free throw shooting has been the Buccs' downfall the past three games and it looks like their struggles may be behind them. That's because the Buccs made 60% of their free throws tonight in a 57-45 win over Franklin Monroe.
"That's a big improvement over what we've been doing from the line," said Covington coach Roger Craft. "I think once McCord made his first two early in the game the kids relaxed when they got to the line."
The Buccs started out fast as Darin Rhoades hit his first of four 3-pointers to start the game. Matt McCord and Dustin Kimmel then scored the next 12 Covington points as the Buccs pushed their lead to 15-4 with 2:31 to go in the first period.
Franklin Monroe battled back by going on an 11-4, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Josh Haburn to close within 19-15 after one period of play.
Covington opened the second period by going on a run of their own. The Buccs outscored Franklin Monroe 14-3 over the next 5:00 to push their lead to 33-18. Unfortunately for the Buccs, Kimmel, McCord, Darin Rhoades, Ross Mohler and Dusty Rhoades all found themselves in early foul trouble and spent the rest of the half on the bench.
Franklin Monroe took advantage and scored the final 8 points of the half to close within 33-26 at halftime.
"The fouls really hurt us and forced us to go to our bench earlier than we wanted," said coach Craft. "We had trouble breaking their press and allowed them to get back into the game."
McCord opened the second half with 2 straight buckets to give the Buccs some breathing room at 37-26. Franklin Monroe cut the margin to 37-32 with two straight 3-pointers, one each from Zachary Long and Brent Halderman
Darin Rhoades then matched Franklin Monroe's efforts by knocking down two straight treys of his own to give Covington a 43-36 lead heading into the final 8:00.
After a basket by Franklin Monroe's Halderman to start the fourth, Gene Studebaker and Ross Mohler put the Buccs up 47-38. A basket by the Jets' Barry Koffer cut the margin to 7, but that was as close as Franklin Monroe would get the rest of the way.
Darin Rhoades hit his fourth trey of the game and scored 7 of Covington's final 10 points to give the Buccs their fourth straight conference win.
"Darin had a pretty good night shooting and Gene Studebaker is really playing well off the bench," complemented coach Craft. "Gene's starting to find himself. He's only a freshman, but he's playing aggressive and giving us some very good minutes off of the bench."
Darin Rhoades led the Buccs with a game high 16 points, while four Buccaneer' players scored in double figures. Matt McCord and Dustin Kimmel each pulled down 7 rebounds.
The Buccs improve to 5-3 on the season and 4-0 in conference play. They travel to face Milton Union tomorrow night.
Scoring by quarters:
Covington............19....33.....43......57
Franklin Monroe....15....26.....36......45
Records:
Covington – 5-3 overall, 4-0 CCC
Franklin Monroe – 3-6 overall, 0-4 CCC
Covington Scoring:
Darin Rhoades – 16
Dustin Kimmel – 11
Matt McCord – 11
Gene Studebaker – 10
Ross Mohler – 4
Dusty Rhoades – 3
Brady Reck – 2
Franklin Monroe Scoring:
Brent Halderman – 15
Micah Fisher – 14
Barry Koffer – 6
Zachary Long – 5
Josh Haburn – 3
Aaron Wilson – 2
