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| Richard Canan dished out 7 assists for the Buccs in a conference win. |
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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 6, 2005 – PITSBURG
The Covington Buccaneers overcame three sluggish quarters Friday to drop in 27 fourth period points, which led to a 69-57 win over Franklin Monroe. The win improves Covington's record to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in Cross County Conference play.
"We're coming off of two big games against Russia and Marion Local and the holidays, but I don't think that had anything to do with the way we played tonight," said Covington coach Roger Craft in regards to his teams early struggles. "I think it has more to do with how well Franklin Monroe played. Anytime you play them at there place you can expect a tough game."
A tough game is exactly what Covington got as Franklin Monroe hung close until a 16-0 run by the Buccs early in the fourth quarter took the air out of the Jet's sails.
Trailing for the first time in the contest after a Logan Halderman jumper ended the third stanza, the Buccs found themselves fighting a battle of momentum. Then Grant Shellabarger gave the Jets a 42-37 lead to start the fourth with a three-point play to send the "Hanger" into a frenzy.
The celebration was short lives as Covington picked up the defensive pressure, which led to the 16-0 run.
"We were able to finally get out and run on them because we picked up the defensive pressure," said Craft. "You have to force turnovers and get rebounds in order to get out and run. We were able to do that in the fourth period...force turnovers, rebound and get easy baskets in transition."
Another key contributor to the Buccs' run was the execution of the half court offense, which included getting the ball inside to Dusty Kimmel. The 6-foot, 4-inch senior scored five straight points to begin the run and was able to find the open man when Franklin Monroe moved over an extra defender.
"We executed the offense better down the stretch," said Craft. "We were able to get the ball inside and good things happen when Kimmel gets his hands on the ball. He was able to get some baskets or kick the ball out for open shots."
Kimmel, who scored 17 points on the night, started the game off with an easy lay-up.
After a Mark Hutchinson basket tied the score, Gene Studebaker drilled a trey and then followed with Covington's next two baskets to give the Buccs a 9-6 lead midway through the first.
Kimmel pounded his way inside for another basket, while Corey Sprankle and Darin Rhoades both scored on baskets to increase Covington's lead to 15-11 with just seconds left in the stanza.
The Jets wouldn't concede anything as Bill Taylor launched a one-handed trey from the top of the key that found nothing but net as the buzzer sounded to make the score 15-14 after one.
Covington opened the second period by going on an 8-2 run to push the lead to 23-16. But, Franklin Monroe wouldn't go away as the Jets outscored the Buccs 6-3 over the remainder of the half to cut the margin to 26-22.
"They (Franklin Monroe) are a very scrappy team," complimented Craft.
Gene Studebaker opened second half play with a jumper, but Covington struggled to maintain any offensive consistency over the remainder of the stanza.
Franklin Monroe took advantage by outscoring the Buccs 15-9 over the next 7 minutes to tie the score at 37-37 with 45 seconds left in the third.
The Jets then took their first lead of the contest on Halderman's jumper to end the third as Franklin Monroe started smelling the upset.
After Shellabarger's three-point play to open the final stanza, the Jets couldn't find the bottom of the net until 4:08 was left on the clock. All the while, the Buccs put together the 16-0 run that would ultimately decide the contest.
Covington sealed the deal by converting on 8 of 11 free throws in the final 4:00 of the game to take a 69-57 win.
Covington had three players score in double figures as Darin Rhoades scored 18 points, Dusty Kimmel dropped in 17 points and Gene Studebaker contributed with 15 points. Richard Canan recorded 7 assists and Seth Mohler pulled down 8 rebounds.
The Buccs held the edge on the boards with 29 rebounds to Franklin Monroe's 22.
Covington forced 12 Franklin Monroe turnovers, while only committing 7 turnovers of its own.
The Buccs connected on 22 of 34 free throws and shot 3 of 11 from behind the arc. Franklin Monroe converted on 15 of 20 free throws and 3-9 from three-point range.
Covington travels to Milton Union on Saturday in a non-conference match-up.
Scoring by Quarters:
Covington ..................15.......26........37..........69
Franklin Monroe .......14.......22........39..........57
Covington Scoring:
Darin Rhoades – 18
Dusty Kimmel – 17
Gene Studebaker – 15
Seth Mohler – 6
Richard Canan – 5
Derek Brumbaugh – 4
Corey Sprankle – 2
Nick Meyer – 2
Franklin Monroe Scoring:
Grant Shellabarger – 15
Bill Taylor – 11
Brett Robison – 10
Noah Welbaum – 6
Austin Pressly – 6
Zach Long – 3
Logan Halderman – 2
Mark Hutchinson – 2
Chris Hall – 2
3-point Scoring:
Covington: Darin Rhoades (2), Gene Studebaker (1)
Franklin Monroe: Bill Taylor (2), Noah Welbaum (1)
