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| Seth Mohler and Gene Studebaker sky over two Anna players for a rebound. |
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Team
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CCC
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ALL
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Covington
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10-1
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16-4
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Bethel
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10-1
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15-5
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Tri-Village
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9-2
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13-7
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Twin Valley South
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8-3
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15-5
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Arcanum
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8-3
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15-5
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Newton
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5-6
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7-13
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Ansonia
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5-6
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8-12
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Franklin Monroe
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4-7
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5-15
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Mississinawa Valley
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3-8
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6-14
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Tri-County North
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3-8
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6-14
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National Trail
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1-10
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1-19
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Bradford
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0-11
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1-19
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January 28, 2006 – ANNA
Seth Mohler has had his fair share of problems with picking up fouls this season, but the tradeoff is something the Covington Buccaneers are more than happy to accept. The fouls Mohler picks up are due to his aggressiveness and hard-nosed play while grabbing rebounds and defending the opponent's best player.
Although Mohler fouled out with 53 second left in Saturday night's contest with Anna, the impact he had on the floor was evident as the Buccs gained a huge non-conference win on the road, 62-55.
Mohler, who tallied a season-high 20 points on the night, tied the score at 44-44 on two free throws with 6:01 left in the game and then scored on two straight three-point plays to give Covington the lead for good, 50-44.
"I don't even have the words to express how huge of a game Seth had for us," said a very pleased Covington coach Roger Craft. "Man, what an effort. He came up with some huge offensive rebounds and put-backs all night. He had 14 points in the second half and 20 for the game, plus seven offensive rebounds. What else can you say?"
The path Covington took to victory was one with many pitfalls along the way, most notably the long range shooting of the host Rockets. Anna, who connected on nine treys in the contest, jumped out to a 13-8 lead in the first period and held a 29-23 lead at the half.
Covington could never get into a groove offensively throughout the first half, but still managed to keep the game within striking distance thanks to its solid defense.
"They (Anna) slowed the game down and took a lot of time off the clock on each possession," described Craft. "They got us on some backdoor cuts and made some threes from way out there."
The Buccs opened the second half with a Darin Rhoades jumper, but Anna responded by outscoring Covington 15-9 in a 6:00 timeframe to take its largest lead of the contest, 44-34, with under a minute to go in the third.
The Buccs closed out the stanza with a Seth Mohler circus lay-up off of a rebound at the buzzer to close the gap to 44-36 with one period to play.
Rhoades got the Buccs rolling in the fourth with a long trey and a Richard Canan free throw and a Gene Studebaker jumper cut the margin to 44-42 in less than a minute.
Mohler then took over with eight straight points on two free throws and two hard earned three-point plays to give the Buccs a 50-44 lead with 5:33 left in the game. Mohler's effort brought the previously quiet Covington crowd to its feet.
The Rockets finally slowed the bleeding with a jumper by Joel Nasman with 4:00 left, but a Canan lay-up off of a steal and a Darin Rhoades jumper pushed Covington's lead to 54-46.
Richard Canan, who recorded five steals on the night, picked the pocket of Mark Bensman and converted his theft into a lay-up to keep the Buccs rolling.
"Our fourth quarter defense was outstanding," Craft said. "It gave us a chance to finally get out and run and get some easy baskets in transition."
After another jumper by Nasman, Rhoades connected on two straight free throws to make the score 56-48.
Mohler then made his exit from the game to a standing ovation from the Covington faithful after picking up his fifth foul with 53.6 left on the clock.
Covington then made 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch to seal the game, 62-55.
"Rhoades hit the big shot to get us going and then converted on his free throws down the stretch," said Craft. "When you make your free throws in the fourth quarter, it makes it hard on the other team to come back."
The Buccs had three players score in double figures with Darin Rhoades scoring 17 and Gene Studebaker contributing with 12 points to go along with Mohler's game-high performance of 20 points.
Covington held the advantage on the boards with 26 rebounds to 19 for Anna. Dusty Kimmel pulled down 10 rebounds, while Seth Mohler grabbed 8 total rebounds and seven of Covington's nine offensive boards.
Richard Canan recorded five steals and six assists to go along with his seven points on the night.
Covington improves to 13-2 on the season and returns to action next Friday as it hosts Bethel.
Scoring by Quarters:
Covington ..........8.......23.......36..........62
Anna ..................13......29.......44..........55
Covington Scoring:
Seth Mohler - 20
Darin Rhoades - 17
Gene Studebaker - 12
Richard Canan - 7
Dusty Kimmel - 6
Anna Scoring:
Billing - 16
Elsass - 12
Muelfeld - 9
Manger - 6
Bensman - 6
Nasman - 2
Hoying - 2
Three-Point Scoring:
Covington: Studebaker (2), Rhoades (1)
Anna: Billing (4), Muelfeld (3), Bensman (2)
