Dusty Rhoades and the Buccs improve to 4-0 on the season with a 50-40 win over Mississinawa Valley.

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 19, 2003 – COVINGTON
After three straight road games to open up the season, the Covington Buccaneers were looking forward to showing the hometown fans how far they have come since last season. They didn't disappoint by earning a hard-fought 50-40 win over Mississinawa Valley to improve their record to 4-0 on the season and 3-0 in the Cross County Conference.

"This is another good win for us," said Covington coach Roger Craft. "We had some kids step up and make plays when we needed them. Gene Studebaker, Ross Mohler and Dallas Burelison came off of the bench and performed very well."

Mississinawa came into the contest looking for their first win of the season and gave the unbeaten Buccs everything they could handle. The Blackhawks held the Buccs to a season low 50 points and held the area's leading scorer, Matt McCord to 17 points, his season low.

"Mississinawa is very solid defensively," complemented coach Craft. "They had an excellent game plan and their kids really get after it. It was very difficult at times for us to get any type of offensive consistency."

Matt McCord started the Buccs off with a layup and Darin Rhoades drilled a 3 pointer to give Covington a 5-2 lead early in the contest. Mississinawa battled back to take their only lead of the game by outscoring the Buccs 7-3 over a 5:00 stretch. Covington rebounded to take the lead back with a layup by McCord and a jumper by Gene Studebaker. At the end of the first period Covington held a slim 13-9 lead.

Studebaker jump started the Buccs in the opening seconds of the second period with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Two jumpers by Dustin Kimmel and a layup by McCord increased the Buccs' lead to 22-14 with only 2:00 to go in the half. Mississinawa went on a 7-2 run, which was capped off by a 3-pointer by Linder at the buzzer to make the score 24-21 at the half.

Covington started the second half on a 7-0 run to push their lead to double digits, 31-21. Ross Mohler connected on a layup while Dusty Rhoades hit on a 3 pointer and Matt McCord canned a jumper. Missisissinawa the cut the Buccaneer' lead to 4 points on two layups and a pair of free throws.

The Buccs ended the third with a 7-0 run of their own as McCord and Studebaker snuck inside for layups and Brady Reck connected on a 3-pointer to make the score 38-27 after three periods of play.

It appeared as though Covington was going to run away from the Blackhawks at the beginning of the fourth period. A pair of baskets by Ross Mohler and Gene Studebaker increased Covington's lead to 42-27 with 6:10 to play.

The Blackhawks made one last run at the Buccs with two straight 3 pointers by Linder and 2 more baskets by Travis Brunk to cut the Buccaneer' lead to 42-37 with 1:43 to go.

After a Covington timeout, the Buccs closed out the contest with an 8-3 run and a 50-40 win.

Matt McCord paced the Buccs with a game high 17 points while Gene Studebaker came off of the bench to knock down 9 points. Covington held a 26-11 rebounding advantage with McCord and Studebaker pulling down 7 rebounds each.

The Buccs were 15-25 from 2-point range and 4-19 from behind the 3-point line. Covington converted on 9 of 14 free throws for 57%.

Covington improves to 4-0 on the season and travels to New Bremen on Tuesday, December 23 in non-conference action.

Covington Scoring:
Matt McCord – 17
Gene Studebaker – 9
Darin Rhoades – 8
Brady Reck – 6
Dusty Kimmel – 6
Ross Mohler – 4

Miss. Valley Scoring:
Linder – 11
Setser – 9
Brunk – 9
Evans – 7
Hunt – 2
Leeper – 2

Scoring by quarters:
Covington ......13......24.....38.....50
Miss. Valley......9......21.....27.....40

Records: Covington 4-0, Miss. Valley 0-4