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| Jake Bitner gave Covington a 38-37 lead with 15.7 second left on this runner. |
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Untitled Page
| 2008-09 BASKETBALL LINKS |
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Untitled Page
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2008-09 SCHEDULE
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12/05/08
12/06/08
12/12/08
12/13/08
12/16/08
12/27/08
01/02/09
01/03/09
01/09/09
01/16/09
01/17/09
01/23/09
01/24/09
01/31/09
02/03/09
02/06/09
02/07/09
02/13/09
02/16/09
02/20/09
02/27/09
03/04/09
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Tri-County North
Fairlawn
National Trail
@ Versailles
@ Miami East
@ Marion Local
@ Piqua
@ Piqua vs Russia
@ Ansonia
Tri-Village
New Bremen
@ Newton
Milton Union
Anna
@ Franklin Monroe
Bradford
Bethel
@ Arcanum
Mississinawa
@ Twin Valley South
Bradford (T)
Ft. Loramie (T)
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59-58
63-51
59-42
26-47
54-65
34-48
56-63
33-51
36-47
50-54
50-59
39-26
66-52
53-59
36-54
58-34
40-39
36-52
64-56
49-52
50-27
34-47
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| 2008-09 CCC STANDINGS |
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Team
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CCC
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ALL
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| Miami East |
11-1 |
18-1 |
| Arcanum |
11-1 |
13-6 |
| Tri-Village |
10-2 |
14-6 |
| Bethel |
9-3 |
12-8 |
| Ansonia |
7-5 |
9-11 |
| Franklin Monroe |
6-6 |
11-9 |
| Mississinawa |
6-6 |
9-11 |
| Covington |
6-6 |
8-12 |
| Twin Valley South |
5-7 |
10-10 |
| Tri-County North |
3-9 |
4-16 |
| Newton |
2-10 |
3-17 |
| Bradford |
1-11 |
5-15 |
| National Trail |
1-11 |
1-19 |
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FEBRUARY 7, 2009 - COVINGTON
The breaks haven't went the way of the Covington Buccaneers for much of this season as several close games were lost by shots bouncing in and out of the rim. But Saturday night against Bethel, the Buccs finally got some well overdue breaks and squeaked by the Bees 40-39 thanks to a last second shot by Adam Craft.
"Big win," said Covington coach Roger Craft. "The kids kept battling to the end, which is something they've done all year. When you battle like we do, sooner or later good things will happen and they did tonight."
Bethel had taken a 39-38 lead with 6.6 second left in the game on a Michael Jones lay-in off of a timely pass by John Sutton.
"We had a few fouls to give so our plan was to foul before the shot in that situation," Craft explained. "But they found an opening in the back side and got an easy basket, which was the last thing we wanted to happen."
The time left on the game was in question as the clock never started when Bethel put the ball into play on the in-bounds pass. But after the officials held a conference, Covington was left with 6.6 seconds to try and work some magic.
After seeing how Bethel lined up defensively, Craft called a timeout to get his team on the same page.
"We had a couple of options," Craft said of the Buccs' final possession. "We could throw the ball to half court and expect them to foul as they had some to give. Or, we could go for the home run, which is what we called during the timeout."
Nate Lavey threw a perfect pass to the top of the key where Adam Craft out jumped a Bethel defender. Craft immediately turned toward the basket and slid through for an easy lay-up and the game winner.
"We figured they would foul us and we'd get the ball closer to the basket with about four or five seconds left," Craft continued. "But once Adam got the ball there was nobody there to defend him and he took it straight to the basket."
It's a play the Buccs have practiced a lot for just the right situation.
"We've ran that so many times in practice," Craft said. "But that's against our JV kids. This was the first time we were able to run it in a varsity game and it worked perfectly."
Adam Craft, who made the basket, was the hero. But the play doesn't work without the accurate pass by Lavey.
"Nate's a baseball guy with a good arm and he knows he's suppose to throw it high at the top of the key," said Craft. "Adam was coming full speed from under the basket and we had a guy backing him up in case the pass was overthrown. Nate put the ball right where it needed to be."
Still, Bethel had 2.2 second left to try and make something happen.
But the shot attempt from over half court bounced off the top of the backboard as the Buccs began their celebration.
"The kids needed this (the win)," said Craft. "They've worked so hard all year long when they could have packed it in. This is a great bunch of kids and they deserved this win."
Fittingly, the win came through adversity as the Buccs struggled once again shooting the basketball.
Covington made just 16 of 43 shots for 37%, 12 for 29 from inside the paint (41%) and 4-14 from behind the arc (28%).
To make matters worse, Ben Christian - a big part of the offense - only had one point until midway through the fourth quarter.
"Benny was frustrated, but he kept battling," said Craft. "We told him we were going to keep going to him and we set up some plays for him to take the shot. To his credit he stuck with it and kept playing."
And Christian made two critical baskets in the fourth quarter to help cut a 35-30 Bethel lead to 37-36.
From there Bethel could only manage one more field goal - one of two in the fourth quarter.
"Defensively, what a great effort," praised Craft. "To hold them to just four points in the fourth quarter and under 40 points for the game is outstanding. This was a great defensive effort tonight."
And senior Nate Lavey had one of his best defensive games of his career.
"Nate did a good job of defending (Jon) Sutton," Craft continued. "That kid (Sutton) is very quick and one heck of a player. But Nate did an outstanding job on him tonight."
Sutton ended up leading Bethel with nine points, but they didn't come easy.
And neither did the points for any of the other Bethel players as Covington put together an impressive team effort at the defensive end.
"Defense is what kept us in the game because we were struggling shooting the ball," Craft explained. "We did take care of the basketball though and limited our turnovers. In a low scoring game like this, taking care of the basketball is huge."
Covington only had five turnovers compared to 12 for Bethel.
The Buccs also matched the taller Bees on the boards, 23-23, and held a slim advantage at the offensive end, 12-10.
"We knew if we held our own rebounding the basketball that we'd have a good chance to win," said Craft. "Their height was an advantage for them, but our kids are physical. I felt we needed to do a good job of crashing the boards and we did that tonight."
And a big rebound by Jordy Meyer set Covington up to take a 38-37 lead with 15.7 second left in the game.
Bethel had misfired on a three-pointer in an attempt to push their one-point lead to four. Meyer managed to grab the rebound between two Bethel players, setting the Buccs up to take the lead.
This led to a runner by Jake Bitner, who found a clear lane to the basket as Bethel was focused on stopping Christian.
"They had Benny doubled and Jake made a nice cut to the basket," Craft described. "That was a big basket because it put us up by one with 15 seconds left and we had some fouls to give."
It also set the stage for a thrilling finish as Sutton and James worked their magic for Bethel, followed by the heroics of Lavey and Craft to give the Buccs the win.
Covington improves to 7-10 on the season and 5-4 in the Cross County Conference with three games left.
Next up for the Buccs is a road trip to Arcanum on Friday.
Scoring by Quarters:
Covington ........7......20......30......40 - 40
Bethel .............15......25......35......39 - 39
Covington Scoring:
Adam Craft - 14
Eric Beckstedt - 10
Jordy Meyer - 7
Ben Christian - 5
Nate Lavey - 2
Jake Bitner - 2
Bethel Scoring:
Jon Sutton - 9
Daniel Yates - 8
Scott Mason - 8
Michael James - 7
Grant Samuel - 5
Timothy Walters - 2
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