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| Darin Rhoades scores two of his 14 points. |
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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 21, 2006 – NEW BREMEN
In three out of the four quarters played Saturday night, the Covington Buccaneers controlled the action and outscored New Bremen 47-39. But, the host Cardinals used a dominating third period to outscore the Buccs 23-10, which led to Covington's second loss of the season, 62-57.
"It was a tale of two halves," said Covington coach Roger Craft. "We made some runs and they made a big run. That (the third period) was probably the difference in the game."
The game provided a play-off atmosphere from the beginning as each team took its turn making the big plays.
After New Bremen opened the contest with two straight buckets, the visiting Buccaneers went on a 12-4 run on two treys by Richard Canan, a trey by Darin Rhoades and a traditional three-point play by Dusty Kimmel.
New Bremen then canned two straight jumpers, followed up by a pair of baskets by Kimmel and Canan to make the score 16-12 with under 1:00 left in the opening stanza.
The Cardinals responded with a trey by Brian Schwartz to cut the margin to one, but Darin Rhoades closed out the period with a lay-up to give the Buccs the momentum, 18-15.
It took New Bremen just two possessions to take the lead on baskets by Scott Schnelle and Scott Steineman, but once again Covington went on a big run.
This time the Buccs outscored the Cardinals 15-3 in nearly 7:00 as Rhoades, Canan and Kimmel accounted for all but one point in the run.
The final three points of the half came on a Darin Rhoades trey at the buzzer to give the Buccs a 33-22 lead at the break.
"We had a nice run there at the end of the half, which gave us some momentum," describe Craft. "But we knew it wasn't over. We knew that we were on their floor and we would have to weather a storm somewhere along the way. We just didn't think it would be that big of a storm."
The storm Craft was referring to was New Bremen's 17-4 run to close out the third period, which gave the Cardinals a 45-43 lead heading into the fourth.
Covington responded quickly in the opening seconds of the final stanza with a jumper by Darin Rhoades to tie the score. New Bremen then canned a pair of free throws and hit on a trey by Steineman to increase its lead to 50-45.
Once again Covington regrouped and outscored New Bremen 10-2 over the next 4:00 to take a 55-52 lead with just under 3:00 left in the game.
"I thought we regrouped really well after they had the big run in the third," said Craft. "Gene (Studebaker), Darin (Rhoades), and Richard (Canan) hit some big shots to get us some momentum down the stretch."
Unfortunately for the Buccs, the momentum was taken from them in a hurry as back-to-back treys by Steineman and Brian Swartz gave the Cardinals a 58-55 lead with under 2:00 to go.
Seth Mohler immediately scored on a lay-up and picked up the foul, but missed on his free throw attempt to make the score 58-57.
The Buccs then sent New Bremen to the free throw line as Scott Brackman pushed the lead back to three points on two straight conversions.
Attempting to tie the score, Covington missed on a three-point attempt and Brackman pulled down the long rebound, but couldn't connect on the front end of a one-and-one after being fouled.
Covington was again looking to close the gap, but a traveling violation ended all hope. New Bremen converted on two free throws in the final seconds to make the final score 62-57.
"I'm proud of the way our kids played," said Craft. "We went onto their home floor and played a excellent basketball team in a game that could have went either way. We just didn't make the shots when needed at the end and they did. They have a nice team."
The Buccs held a significant edge on the boards, 38-20, but managed to only get top the free throw line for five attempts, making three. New Bremen converted on 13 of 17 free throw attempts, 8 of 9 in the final period.
Covington suffers only its second loss of the season and falls to 11-2 overall, while New Bremen improves its record to 11-2.
"We'll learn from this game," concluded Craft. "We have a big league game coming up and the kids know what is at stake. We'll take what we did wrong in this game and improve on our mistakes. There's a lot of basketball to play, so we'll bounce back."
After three straight road games in five days, the Buccs have six days off until they host Tri-Village next Friday. Both Covington and Tri-Village are unbeaten at 7-0 in the Cross County Conference.
Scoring by Quarters:
Covington .............18...........33........43.........57
New Bremen ........15...........22........45.........62
Covington Scoring:
Richard Canan - 18
Darin Rhoades - 14
Dusty Kimmel -12
Gene Studebaker - 6
Seth Mohler - 4
Nick Meyer - 2
New Bremen:
Scott Steineman - 18
Brian Schwartz - 13
Scott Brackman - 7
Dan Brown - 7
Scott Schnelle - 6
Allan Webster - 5
Brian Garman - 2
Three-Point Scoring:
Covington: Darin Rhoades (2), Richard Canan (2)
New Bremen: Scott Steineman (3), Brian Schwartz (3), Allan Webster (1)
