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Dusty Kimmel battles his way toward the basket against Newton.
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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 7, 2005 – PLEASANT HILL
It's likely the biggest shot of his young life. After Covington's Dusty Kimmel gave the Buccs a 43-41 lead on two free throws with 24 seconds left in the contest, freshman Jason Powell found the ball in his hands with the clock ticking away.
Covington had two defenders on sophomore, Kyler Booher as Powell dribbled the ball at the top of the key. With nobody to pass the ball to, the freshman hesitated after finding himself all alone and nobody covering him. He then set his feet and launched a three-pointer, which hit nothing but net, sending the Newton faithful into a frenzy with 7 seconds left.
"I didn't know if it was going in or not," said Powell in reference to his big shot. "I don't know why I hesitate, because I always do that for some reason. Coach Hans has been telling me to shoot when I'm open, so I did. I didn't think much about it when I took it. I just took the shot."
"He has a nice shot," said first-year Newton coach, Neil Hans. "We've been telling him to take the open shot and he took a big one tonight."
Covington still had a chance, but Darin Rhoades' three-point attempt with 2.4 seconds left bounced off the rim and into the arms of Kyler Booher. Booher was fouled and converted both free throws for a 46-43 win.
"This was a team win," said Powell. "I was fortunate to get the opportunity to take the three-point shot, but we won because we played as a team."
The road Newton took to victory was a tough one as Covington started the contest by taking a 14-4 lead.
Richard Canan opened the game with Covington's first 6 points before Darin Rhoades caught fire with two treys. A Nick Meyer lay-in then gave the Buccs the 14-4 lead with 1:30 left in the stanza.
Newton closed out the first with 5 straight points by Kyler Booher, three points coming on a trey, to close the gap to 14-9 at the end of one.
"That (Booher's 5 points at the end of the first) hurt us," said Covington coach, Roger Craft. "We just substituted to give some of the guys a rest and in two possessions he (Booher) gets them 5 points on open looks."
Covington increased its lead to double-digits again in the second stanza. After a pair of baskets by Dusty kimmel, a basket by Corey Sprankle and a jumper by Darin Rhoades, the Buccs enjoyed a 22-12 lead with under 2:00 left in the half.
Again, Newton battled back to score 3 straight points to close the gap to 22-15 at the half.
After a short Booher jumper made the score 22-17 early in the third, Covington went on an 8-2 run to push its lead to 30-19 midway through the stanza. Six of Covington's points in the run came on two more treys by Darin Rhoades.
The scrappy Indians came right back by going on a run of their own. Four baskets by Ben Arnett, a basket by Kellen Booher, and three jumpers by Kyler Booher, one coming from behind the arch, led to a 13-3 run to give Newton its first lead of the contest, 34-32 with 34 seconds left in the third.
"They (Covington) were focusing on Booher all night," said Hans. "We were able to get a lot of points by hitting the open man."
Covington closed out the third by tying the score at 34-34 on a Rhoades jumper to set up a thrilling final stanza.
Kyler Booher opened the final 8:00 with a lay-up and his third trey of the game to give the Indians their largest lead of the contest, 39-34.
After a pair of Michael Gilmore free throws found the bottom of the net, Dusty Kimmel cut the margin to 39-38 with a short bucket in the paint.
Newton's Ben Arnett pushed the lead back to three points by sneaking in the back side of the Buccaneer defense, but a runner by Darin Rhoades and a free throw by Richard Canan tied the score at 41-41 with 1:44 left in the game.
Covington stopped Newton on its next possession, but the Indians got the ball right back on a Kyle Blundell steal. Blundell passed to Booher down the middle of the floor and Booher went to the free throw line after a Covington foul with 26 seconds left.
Both of Booher's free throws were off the mark, giving the Buccs a golden opportunity as Dusty Kimmel pulled down the rebound and was fouled.
Kimmel connected on both attempts at the line to give Covington a 43-41 lead with 24 seconds left in the contest.
Newton took the ball past mid-court and set up their offense with the ball in Jason Powell's hands. The freshman then hit the three-point shot to give the Indians the lead for good.
"We've been in many close games, only to fall short," said Hans. "This win was very big because Covington is a very, very good team and coach Craft had us scouted very well. The kids just played well together and we had everyone contributed. I think the rivalry thing had a lot to do with this win."
On the Covington side of the court, looking to rebound was the primary focus.
"We have to put this one behind us and play well against Milton tomorrow night," said Craft. "This was a disappointing loss, but we have to move forward."
Leading the way for Covington was Darin Rhoades with 18 points, 12 of those coming from behind the arch.
Newton was led by Kyler Booher with a game-high 23 points, including 3 of 4 from three-point range.
Newton held a 19-15 rebounding advantage, and Covington forced 16 Newton turnovers, while committing only 7 turnovers of its own.
The Buccs drop to 5-6 overall and 4-2 in the Cross County Conference, while Newton improves to 2-9 overall and 2-5 in conference play.
Covington looks to rebound as they host Milton Union, Saturday.
Scoring by Quarters:
Covington .......14......22......34......43
Newton ..............9......15......34......46
Covington Scoring:
Darin Rhoades – 18
Dusty Kimmel – 12
Richard Canan – 7
Corey Sprankle – 2
Nick Meyer – 2
Michael Gilmore – 2
Newton Scoring:
Kyler Booher – 23
Ben Arnett – 14
Jason Powell – 5
Kellen Booher – 3
Shane Cecil – 1
3-Point Scoring:
Covington: Darin Rhoades (4)
Newton: Kyler Booher (3), Jason Powell (1)
Reserve Score: Covington 42, Newton 31
