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| Dylan Owens drives to the basket around a Miami East defender. |
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| 2011-12 BASKETBALL LINKS |
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2011-12 SCHEDULE
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12/09/11
12/10/11
12/16/11
12/20/11
12/23/11
12/29/11
12/30/11
01/06/12
01/07/12
01/13/12
01/14/12
01/21/12
01/24/12
01/27/12
01/31/12
02/03/12
02/04/12
02/07/12
02/10/12
02/17/12
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@ Tri-County North
Versailles
@ National Trail
Miami East
Marion Local
Russia
Lehman
@ Bethel
@ Milton Union
Ansonia
@ New Bremen
Houston
@ Tri-Village
Newton
@ Mississinawa
Franklin Monroe
@ Coldwater
Twin Valley South
@ Bradford
Arcanum
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W 51-38
L 31-52
W 52-32
L 31-58
L 46-51
W 47-43
L 46-72
L 27-48
W 58-53
W 54-43
L
W 45-39
L 30-65
W 47-32
W 53-39
L 35-36
L
W 43-41
W 48-27
L 43-48
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| 2010-11 CCC STANDINGS |
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Team
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CCC
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ALL
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| Miami East |
12-0 |
19-1 |
| Franklin Monroe |
11-1 |
19-1 |
| Arcanum |
9-3 |
13-7 |
| Covington |
8-4 |
12-8 |
| Bethel |
7-5 |
11-9 |
| Tri-Village |
7-5 |
10-10 |
| National Trail |
6-6 |
10-10 |
| Twin Valley South |
6-6 |
7-13 |
| Mississinawa Valley |
4-8 |
8-12 |
| Newton |
4-8 |
7-13 |
| Ansonia |
3-9 |
5-15 |
| Tri-County North |
1-11 |
1-19 |
| Bradford |
0-12 |
0-20 |
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DECEMBER 20, 2011 - COVINGTON
Covington coach Roger Craft was searching for the words to describe his team's early-season struggles that continued on Tuesday in a 58-31 loss to CCC rival Miami East.
"I can't explain it," said Craft. "We're not attacking. We're playing on our heals and not attacking."
Not attacking is uncharacteristic of this group of kids - kids who have played a significant amount of basketball since they were in the Covington youth program.
"They know how to play," Craft continued. "I think its a matter of them believing in themselves and just playing. Our practices have been good, but it hasn't carried over the the games yet."
And the results show as Covington has started slowly in every game this year, scoring a combined 28 points in the first quarter over the first four games.
"For some reason we aren't in attack mode," Craft explained. "Defensively, we're playing well at times, but we've yet to get it going at the offensive end."
The offensive struggles continued on Tuesday as Covington missed on several shots inside the paint and managed just 14 points in the first half.
Meanwhile, Miami East torched the nets, scoring 30 points in the first half and making it look easy in doing so.
And much of the Viking offense was sparked by the sharp shooting of Gunner Shirk, who tallied a game-high 22 points.
"He was eight of twelve from the field and four of five from three-point range," said Miami East coach Allan Mack. "You can't have a much better game than that."
Craft agreed that Shirk was a major player in the game.
"That kid is a gammer," Craft praised of Shirk. "He's improved so much as an all-around basketball player. He does it all - shooting, rebounding, finding the open man - he's an all-around good player for them."
And it was Shirk who hit the big shots every time Covington seemed to find any kind of momentum.
"Dylan (Owens) hit a couple of threes for us in the second half and we thought we were starting to get it going," said Craft. "But Shirk came down and hit some big shots for them to kill any kind of momentum we had."
With Shirk hitting big shots and balanced scoring by the supporting cast of Garrett Mitchell, Bradley Coomes, A.J. Hickman and Josh Snyder, Miami East put Covington away in impressive fashion in thee second half - outscoring the Buccs 28-17.
And along the way Miami East prevented Cole Owens, Covington's big man, from getting on track.
"We saw them play Versailles and watched the big Owens kid get about half their points," Mack said. "That was a focus of our defensive effort tonight."
Owens tallied just six points on the evening as Covington struggled hitting shots inside the paint - scoring just 14 to the 30 put up by a smaller Miami East team.
"Not to take anything away from Miami East because they are a very good basketball team that is well coached, but I think we are pretty good too," Craft said. "We just haven't found a way to put points on the board."
Which goes back to the Buccs not being in attack mode.
"When you play against a zone defense and only shoot three free throws, that shows you are not playing aggressive," he continued. "We're not attacking the zone and getting to the basket where we either get the foul or score inside the paint."
Craft feels his team has what it takes to get back to playing Buccaneer basketball quickly.
"I know these kids and they'll respond," he said. "There's a competitive drive in these kids that will take over. They'll get it corrected."
For Miami East, it was a statement game for the rest of the CCC as it thoroughly controlled the action for four quarters against a team that's expected to be one of the top teams in the league.
The Vikings shot 50% from the floor (15-30), 40% from behind the arc (6-15) and 71% from the free throw line (10-14).
They also out rebounded a bigger, stronger Covington team 24-17 and 8-4 at the offensive end.
Meanwhile, Covington connected on 38% of its field goals (10-26), 23% from three-point range (3-13) and made two of three from the free throw line.
It all led to an impressive 58-31 win for the Vikings and momentum heading into the holiday break.
SCORING BY QUARTERS:
Miami East ............. 15 ... 15 ... 14 ... 14 - 58
Covington ................ 6 ...... 8 ..... 7 ... 10 - 31
Miami East Scoring:
Gunner Shirk - 22
Garrett Mitchell - 9
Bradley Coomes - 9
A.J. Hickman - 8
Josh Snyder - 8
Luke House - 2
Covington Scoring:
Ryan Craft - 9
Dylan Owens - 8
Cole Owens - 6
Austin Angle - 5
Troy Cron - 2
Steven Blei - 2
Three-point Scoring:
Miami East: Shirk (4), Coomes (1), Snyder (1)
Covington: Dylan Owens (2), Craft (1)
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