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Richard Canan goes up for two of his 10 points in the Buccs' 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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10-1
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16-4
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Twin Valley South
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9-2
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15-5
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National Trail
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7-4
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14-6
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Franklin Monroe
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7-3
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10-8
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Covington
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7-4
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11-10
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Tri-Village
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6-5
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9-11
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Tri-County North
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5-6
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9-11
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Arcanum
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4-7
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9-11
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Bethel
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5-6
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8-12
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Newton
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2-9
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4-16
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Mississinawa Valley
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2-9
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4-16
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Bradford
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0-11
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0-20
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January 28, 2005 – BRANDT
After a slow start in which they only converted on two field goals in the opening stanza, the Covington Buccaneers found their groove and defeated Bethel 52-38 in front of a loud, near capacity crowd at the Bee Hive.
"It looks like we are getting some rhythm back," said Covington coach, Roger Craft after his Buccs evened their record at 8-8 and improved to 6-3 in the Cross County Conference. "The kids played hard and never let their (Bethel's) crowd get to them."
Things couldn't have started out any worse for the Buccaneers in the first minute of the contest. Sophomore forward, Seth Mohler picked up two fouls in the first 50 seconds of the contest, forcing Craft to go to his bench much earlier than he wanted.
Bethel took advantage by scoring the first six points of the contest and eventually taking a 12-5 lead after 8:00 of play. Covington's only points in the opening stanza came on a Richard Canan trey and a Darin Rhoades jumper.
"We were pressing way too much," said Craft. "The kids came out pumped up and it took us a while to get them settled down. We played very hard on defense, which kept the game manageable until we could get settled in offensively."
After Bethel increased its lead to 16-5 in the opening minute of the second on baskets by Daniel Roock and Clayton Shrunk, the Buccaneers gradually chipped away at the deficit.
Baskets by Mohler, Corey Sprankle, and Gene Studebaker, plus a pair of free throws by Richard Canan cut the margin to 19-13 midway through the stanza.
Covington then closed within 19-16 on a basket and a free throw by Rhoades as Bethel failed to score in nearly 3:30 of play.
Tony Phillips broke the ice for the Bees with a lay-up and a Strunk basket pushed the Bethel lead to 25-16 with 1:20 left in the half.
Covington closed out the half with five straight points as Canan drilled another three and Rhoades snuck behind the Bethel defense for an easy lay-up to make the score 25-21 in favor of Bethel at the half.
"We had some kids step up off the bench because of foul trouble," commented coach Craft. "I almost put a couple of the guys back into the game when they (Bethel) hit those back-to-back baskets, but after Richard hit the three, I didn't want to risk one of our guys picking up another foul this early in the game."
The second half started in similar fashion as the first as Mohler picked up his fourth foul and was forced to the bench with just eight seconds off the clock.
Covington didn't miss a beat, however, as Dusty Kimmel connected on two straight baskets, Darin Rhoades and Gene Studebaker canned two straight treys, and then Rhoades scored on a lay-up in a 12-3 run to give the Buccs their first lead on the contest, 33-30.
"Kimmel got us got going there in a key moment of the game," described Craft. "We ran the offense through him. He had the choice of taking it to the basket or finding the open man. He's very unselfish and made some great passes to the other guys cutting to the basket."
Bethel took the lead back on two straight baskets by Mike Kley, but a Michael Gilmore lay-up closed out the third with Covington ahead 35-34.
The Bees took their final lead of the contest on a pair of free throws by Daniel Roock as the Bees failed to convert on a single field goal in the final 8:00 of play.
Covington closed out the contest by outscoring Bethel 17-2 as Rhoades, Kimmel, Studebaker, Mohler and Canan all notched points in the stanza.
Leading the way for Covington was Darin Rhoades with a game-high 16 points and Richard Canan with 10 points.
Seth Mohler drew praise from his coach as he pulled down a game-high 9 rebounds.
"Seth had his best game of the season," complemented Craft. "He got into some foul trouble, but when he was in there he had a huge impact crashing the boards and playing solid defense."
Covington connected on 15 of 41 two-points shots, 5 of 12 three-point attempts, and 7 of 10 from the line.
Bethel managed to convert on 12 of 26 two-pointers, 1 of 7 from behind the arc, and 11-19 from the free throw line.
Both teams pulled down 21 rebounds, but Covington held a significant advantage in turnovers. The Buccs only gave the ball away four times on the evening, while Bethel committed 11 turnovers.
Covington travels to Miami East on tonight.
Scoring by quarters:
Covington .......5.......21.....35......52
Bethel .............12......25.....34......38
Covington Scoring:
Darin Rhoades – 16
Richard Canan – 10
Dusty Kimmel – 9
Gene Studebaker – 8
Seth Mohler – 5
Corey Sprankle – 2
Michael Gilmore – 2
Bethel Scoring:
Tony Phillips – 12
Mike Kley – 7
Ryan Mayes – 6
Daniel Roock – 6
Clayton Strunk – 5
Greg Cornish – 2
3-point scoring:
Covington: Gene Studebaker (2), Richard Canan (2), Darin Rhoades (1)
Bethel: Tony Phillips (1)
Reserve Score: Covington 43 – Bethel 42
