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| Richard Canan scored 12 points to help lead the Buccs to a 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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February 10, 2006 – COVINGTON
After last weeks defeat at the hands of Bethel, Covington High School Principal Chad Mason had an idea to bring more emotion to the gymnasium and give the student body their own section to cheer for the Buccs.
What Mason did was give away 150 black t-shirts to students who attended the game. Each black t-shirt was designed and printed with the words...C BLOCK - Standing Room Only!
The Covington student body showed up well before game time as each t-shirt was swiped up by the beginning of the junior varsity contest. Throughout the evening, the 150-plus students stood in the student section in a sea of black and cheered on their Buccaneers to an impressive 70-49 victory over Twin Valley South.
"This school belongs to our students," said Mason. "It's their time and this (extra curricular activities) is all for them. If giving them t-shirts is what needed to be done for us to get our student body involved, then that's what it takes. I'm so proud of our kids because they made the entire town proud with the way they conducted themselves tonight. They cheered and had fun and that's what this is all about."
Mason's efforts and the actions of the student body left an impression on Covington coach, Roger Craft.
"Wow, they (the student body) got us going," said Craft. "There's nothing like having a huge crowd behind you and our kids were excited about it. They were the sixth man tonight. They made us play harder when we were tired and picked us up when we needed it. I give Principal Mason credit for doing what he did."
With the C Block setting the tone emotionally, the Buccs opened the contest with a trey by Gene Studebaker and eventually built a narrow 15-14 lead at the end of the first period.
Covington then opened the second period with a Corey Sprankle basket and a trey by Richard Canan to push the lead to 20-14, but South canned three treys in a 2:00 timeframe to eventually cut the score to 26-25.
The Buccs responded by closing out the half on a 6-2 run to increase their lead to 32-27 at the half.
"South can light it up from outside," complemented Craft. "You can get a lead on them and then the get hot on two or three possessions and your lead evaporates in a hurry."
The Panthers' three-point shooting wasn't the only thing giving Covington fits, but the box-and-one defense resulted in a scoreless first half for the Buccs' leading scorer, Darin Rhaodes.
"They (South) pretty much stuck to the box-and-one to shut down Darin," described Craft. "But, Darin did a nice job of finding open teammates. Dusty Kimmel and Corey Sprankle really stepped up and got the ball to the rack in the first half."
Rhoades wouldn't be denied, however, as he torched the nets for 16 second half points.
Meanwhile, the Covington defense clamped down on the Panther shooters and held the high-powered Twin Valley South offense to just 11 points in the third period and 22 points over the entire second half.
"We picked it up defensively in the second half," Craft said. "We did a better job of challenging their shooters and forcing them into some tough shots. That allowed us to get out and run in transition and get some easy baskets."
The Buccs torched the nets for 21 points in the third and 17 in the fourth to cruise to a 70-49 win.
Covington had four players score in double figures with Rhoades leading the way with 16 points, all coming in the second half. Seth Mohler knocked down 15 points, while Richard Canan and Dusty Kimmel contributed with 12 and 10 points respectively.
The Buccs converted on 4 of 9 three pointers and shot 27-36 from two-point range for 75%.
"That's (field goal percentage) the total opposite from our game against Bethel," said Craft. "We knew we had to shoot better in order to win and that's what we did."
Covington also held a significant edge on the boards by pulling down 23 rebounds to 16 for Twin Valley South.
"We had a size advantage inside," described Craft. "Dusty (Kimmel) and Seth (Mohler) both had big nights and controlled the boards for us."
Twin Valley South was led by Dale Spitler with a game-high 20 points, including four treys. Weston Bessler wasn't far behind with 17 points and three treys.
The Panthers converted on 9 of 23 three-pointers and 7 of 26 two-point attempts.
With the win the Buccs remain in contention for the Cross County Conference title with a 15-3 record overall and 9-1 in conference play. Twin valley South falls to 14-4 overall and 8-2 in the CCC.
Covington looks to lock up at least a share of the CCC title on Tuesday as it hosts Tri-County North.
Scoring by Quarters:
Covington ...........15...........32.........53............70
TV South .............14...........27.........38............49
Covington Scoring:
Darin Rhaodes - 16
Seth Mohler - 15
Richard Canan - 12
Dusty kimmel - 10
Gene Studebaker - 9
Corey Sprankle - 8
Twin Valley South Scoring:
Dale Spitler - 20
Weston Bassley - 17
Corey Bassler - 7
Andy Dawson - 3
Wes Rehmert - 2
Three-Point Scoring:
Covington: Richard Canan (2), Gene Studebaker (1), Seth Mohler (1)
Twin Valley South: Dale Spitler (4), Weston Bassler (3), Cory Bassler (1), Andy Dawson (1)
