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Richard Canan dishes the ball for an assist 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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December 21, 2004 – COVINGTON
The Covington Buccaneers evened their record at 4-4 with a 51-42 victory over Franklin Monroe Tuesday night at Covington High School. With the win, the Buccs also improve their record in the Cross County Conference at 4-1.
Covington started out fast as they racked up a 20-9 lead at the end of the first stanza, but was unable to maintain the momentum for the next two periods. The Buccs did finish strong in the final period, however, to gain the win.
"We had a nice start, but for some reason we didn't maintain consistency for four quarters," said Covington coach, Roger Craft. "We have to learn to maintain consistency."
The Buccs started the contest on fire by scoring the first 10 points of the game.
Gene Studebaker got the Buccs rolling with two straight lay-ups and Richard Canan hit on a jumper to for FM to take a timeout with just 1:52 off the clock.
Studebaker then picked the pocket of Franklin Monroe's, Zach Long and drove in for another lay-up.
Richard Canan matched Studebaker's efforts with another steal and a lay-up to give the Buccs a 10-0 lead and force another timeout with 5:33 left in the first.
The Jets finally got on the board with a jumper by Long, but Darin Rhoades hit on a jumper to push the lead back to double digits, 12-2.
After two free throws by Franklim Monroe's Grant Shellabarger, Rhoades drilled a trey and Studebaker connected on a 10-footer to give Covington a 17-4 lead and force a third Jet timeout with 2:11 left in the opening stanza.
FM's Micah Fisher connected on a jumper after the timeout, but Darin Rhoades connected on another 3-pointer to push the Buccaneer lead to 20-6.
The Jets salvaged some momentum to close out the opening stanza as Logan Halderman connected on a trey to make the score 20-9 in favor of Covington.
After a lay-in by Corey Sprankle to open the second, Franklin Monroe went on an 11-0 run to get back into the game. In the process, Covington's Dusty Kimmel was forced to the bench with his third foul.
Darin Rhoades responded with a three-point play the hard way and Gene Studebaker scored on a runner in the lane to increase the Buccs' lead to 27-20 with 4 seconds left in the half.
Franklin Monroe capped off an impressive second period comeback as Zach Long canned a trey as the buzzer sounded to cut the margin to 27-23 at the half.
Franklin Monroe opened the second half with a lay-in by Shellabarger, who was fouled on the play. Shellabarger connected on his free throw to bring the Jets within one point, 27-26.
That was as close as Franklin Monroe would get as the Buccs closed out the third by outscoring Franklin Monore 11-4 over the remainder of the stanza to make the score 38-30 heading into the final 8:00.
After a pair of free throws by Shellabarger and Chris Hall cut the Buccaneer lead to 38-32, The Buccs went on a 13-2 run as Studebaker, Dusty Kimmel, Darin Rhoades, and Richard Canan scored for the Buccs. Canan also hit on a trey during the run as the Buccs virtually sealed the contest with a 51-34 lead.
Shooting with desperation, Franklin Monroe's Micah Fisher connected on two 3-pointers and Shellabarger hit on a jumper in the final 2:00 to make the final score 51-42 in favor of Covington.
"We allowed the game to get too close there in the second half, but we had a nice run there in the fourth quarter," commented Craft. "We have to learn to play like we did in the first quarter and the fourth quarter for an entire game."
Covington held the rebounding edge over Franklin Monroe, 30-22, but the Buccs committed 17 turnovers.
Darin Rhoades led the Buccs with 15 points, including two treys. Gene Studebaker contributed with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Dusty Kimmel led the Buccs on the boards with a game-high 8 rebounds.
Franklin Monroe was led by Grant Shellabarger with a game-high 18 points. Micah Fisher connected for 11 points, six of those coming on treys in the final 2:00.
Covington is off for a week as they have a rough road schedule to close out 2004. Covington travels to Russia next Tuesday and then to Marion Local on Thursday.
Scoring by Quarters:
Covington ................20.......27.......38.......51
Franklin Monroe .......9.......23.......30.......42
Covington Scoring:
Darin Rhoades – 15
Gene Studebaker – 13
Richard Canan – 9
Dusty Kimmel – 8
Corey Sprankle – 4
Seth Mohler – 2
Franklin Monroe Scoring:
Grant Shellabarger – 18
Micah Fisher – 11
Zach Long – 7
Logan Halderman – 3
Brandon Cera – 2
Chris Hall – 1
3-Point Scoring:
Covington: Darin Rhoades (2), Richard Canan (1)
Franklin Monroe: Micah Fisher (2), Logan Halderman (1), Zach Long (1)
