Richard Canan lays one in over a Troy Christian defender.

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

March 3, 2004 – PIQUA
After last Friday's struggle against Botkins in the opening round of the sectional tournament, the Covington Buccaneers knew they would have to play much better in order to knock off an athletic Troy Christian team.

And they did.

The Buccs played with more enthusiasm and aggressiveness against the Eagles, which resulted in a 58-45 win.

"I'm very proud of the way the kids battled tonight," said Covington coach Roger Craft. "Our kids gave the extra effort and played hard. We never lost our composure, even when the game became tight midway through the fourth period. The kids kept fighting and hung together. That was the difference tonight."

Hanging together and playing as a team was never more important than it was tonight for the Buccs. Dustin Kimmel played despite being under the weather and Dallas Burelison played with a banged up shoulder. To top it off, Dusty Rhoades watched from the sidelines.

With the status uncertain of three key performers, the Buccs needed someone to get them jump started early in the game. Up stepped sophomore Darin Rhoades, who drilled three key treys in the first half at opportune times. Rhoades ended up with 19 points on the night, but none were more valuable than the bombs he threw in from long range.

"Darin got us going with the 3's," described Craft. "Normally you'd count on a senior to step up, but to have one of our sophomores get us going was huge. Darin made the shots when we needed them."

Thanks to Rhoades' sharp shooting and Covington's in-your-face defense, the Buccs built a 15-10 lead after one period of play.

Dustin Kimmel, Matt McCord and Rhoades kept the momentum going in the second and increased the Covington advantage to 39-22 at the half. Rhoades scored 7 points in the stanza, including his third trey of the half.

Troy Christian was a one man show in the third period as Jeff Butson scored all but 2 Eagle points in the stanza. Covington held serve and increased their lead to 40-31 heading into the final 8:00.

The Eagles made their run in the fourth as they went on a 9-4 run to cut Covington's lead to 44-40 with under 4:00 to go.

That was a close as the Eagles would get as McCord scored on a layup and Brady Reck sank 2 free throws to push the Covington lead to 48-40.

"Those free throws by Brady were huge for us," said Craft. "It forced them to press more than they wanted, which helped us down the stretch."

With Troy Christian forced to send the Buccs to the line, Covington closed out the game on a 12-5 run. With a history of struggling from the line, the Buccs connected on 10 of 12 free throws in the final 3:00 to seal the contest.

"The free throws were big, but the performances of Kimmel, Burelison and Richard Canan were just as big," complemented Craft. "It was a very gutsy performance by Kimmel because of him being under the weather. Canan did very well handling their pressure and Dallas just gutted it out despite being in pain. I can't say enough about these kids and the way they stepped up tonight. It doesn't show on the stat sheet, but they were huge."

Darin Rhoades led the Buccs with 19 points, while Matt McCord dropped in 17. McCord also grabbed 10 rebounds and Dustin Kimmel pulled down 7.

Covington held the edge in overall rebounds with 35 to Troy Christian's 30.

The Buccs also shot 47% from the field and 83% from the free throw line.

With the win Covington improves to 14-8 on the season and plays Russia this Friday at 7:00 pm for the sectional championship.

Covington Scoring:
Darin Rhoades – 19
Matt McCord – 17
Dustin Kimmel – 6
Gene Studebaker – 4
Brady Reck – 3
Michale Gilmore – 3
Dallas Burelison – 2
Richard Canan – 2
Nick Meyer – 2

Troy Christian Scoring:
Jeff Butson – 21
Jordan Wright – 5
Josh McGraner – 4
Ronnie Rusk – 4
Luke Wollett – 4
Adam Beatrice – 3
Caleb Orange – 2
Ryan Daly – 2

Scoring by quarters:
Covington..........15.....30.....40......58
Troy Christian.....10....22.....31......45

Records:
Covington 14-8, Botkins 15-7