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Dallas Burelison and the Buccs dropped their first game of the season as New Bremen took a 61-48 win.
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Team
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CCC
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ALL
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Ansonia
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11-0
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18-2
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Covington
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10-1
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12-8
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National Trail
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9-2
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17-3
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Bethel
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4-4
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8-6
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Twin Valley South
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5-4
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9-6
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Newton
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4-4
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6-9
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Tri-Village
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4-4
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7-8
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Arcanum
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4-4
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6-9
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Tri-County North
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1-8
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2-13
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Franklin Monroe
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1-7
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5-10
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Mississinawa Valley
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2-5
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2-10
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Bradford
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0-11
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1-19
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December 23, 2003 – NEW BREMEN
Free throw shooting! More accurately, poor free throw shooting. It's been something coach Craft has been leery of even though the Buccs won their first four games of the season. He knew sometime down the line the Buccs would have to shoot better from the foul line or it would come back to haunt them.
Coach Crafts worst fears happened tonight as the Buccs shot 11 of 21 from the line (3 of 10 in the first half), which led to a 61-48 loss at the hands of New Bremen.
"You just can't beat a good team unless you make your free throws," said Covington coach Roger Craft. "We haven't been shooting them very well this season and we didn't shoot them very well again tonight. It's something we have to get corrected.
Another obstacle for the Buccs was a significant size advantage for New Bremen. New Bremen presented the Buccs a challenge with a physically bigger and taller basketball team.
Still, the game would find Covington making a number of runs at New Bremen only to find the Cardinals answering each of them with big plays of their own.
The Cardinals opened the scoring with a free throw and then a basket until Brady Reck would get the Buccs on the board with a basket down 3-2. New Bremen using a box and one full court press forced a steal to get a layup and then another basket on an offensive stickback to go up 7-2.
Reck connected with a big 3-pointer to keep Covington close at 7-5. New Bremen then got a three-point play the old fashioned way then on another Cardinal steal lead to a layup and a free throw, which put the Buccs down 13-5.
The two teams traded baskets with Darin Rhoades hitting a three and a two, Mohler and Kimmel scored two each and New Bremen lead 21-14 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter Covington changed from a man to man defense to a 2-3 matchup zone, which seemed to slow down the Cardinal offense. This allowed the Buccs to make a run at New Bremen narrowing the lead to 22-19 with Rhodes hitting a three and Mohler a two.
The Cardinals then went on a run of their own stretching the lead to 27-20. After Matt McCord and Ross Mohler connected on a pair of rare free throws, McCord took over for the next couple of minutes of the game.
He would scored a basket on the inside, then made a steal with 10 seconds to go, scored and was fouled converting his free throw into a 3-point play. This put the Buccs within 32-26 with 6.6 seconds to go in the half. New Bremen then went the full length of the court uncontested for an easy layup to increase their lead at the half 34-26.
In the third quarter New Bremen came out firing, nailing a 3-pointer and a two to go up 39-26. They increased their lead to 15 points, the largest of the night at 45-30 when Covington called a timeout with 6:02 to play.
The timeout allowed the Buccs to re-group and make another run at the Cardinals. The Buccs went on a 7-0 run forcing New Bremen to call a timeout of their own with 2:58 to play. The two teams would trade baskets to close out the third with New Bremen leading 47-37.
In the fourth quarter Covington increased their defensive intensity and pressure going to a three-quarter press and a trapping half-court defense. Matt McCord came up big scoring 5 points including two off a steal with 5:27 to play, which put the Buccs within 3 points, 47-44.
New Bremen answered with their own basket only to foul Darin Rhoades while shooting a 3-point shot. Rhoades calmly sank all 3 shots to cut the margin to 49-47. McCord braught the Buccs with 1 point with 3:48 to play on a free throw, but that was as close as the Buccs would get the rest of the evening.
New Bremen's Scott Schmiesing connected on 2 straight 3-pointers to spark a 12-0 run down the stretch. The Buccs could never retaliate and walked off of the court with their first loss of the season, 61-48.
"This was a very physical game and one we could have had," said coach Craft. "We turned the ball over 17 times and didn't score in the final 2:00 or so. It also hurt us when (Dustin) Kimmel got into some foul trouble. He such a physical kid and losing him for much of the second half really hurt against a physical team like New Bremen."
Even with their first loss of the season, coach Craft knows there are greener pastures ahead.
"We'll be OK," continued coach Craft. "The kids played hard and that's what we want. The things that cost us this game are correctable. We'll get in the gym and work on the things we are struggling with and come out the next time and continue to play hard."
Matt McCord led the Buccs with 17 points and 11 rebouds, while Darin Rhoades poured in 16 points.
The Buccs drop to 4-1 on the season and host Marion Local this coming Saturday.
Covington Scoring:
Matt McCord – 17
Darin Rhoades – 16
Ross Mohler – 6
Brady Reck – 5
Dallas Burelison – 2
Dustin Kimmel – 2
Scoring by quarters:
Covington ......15......26.....37.....48
New Bremen...21......34.....47.....61
Records:
Covington 4-1, New Bremen 5-1
