Bill Dickey shoots over a Loramie defender in the sectional tournament.

2007-08 BASKETBALL LINKS MEET THE 07-08 BUCCANEERS MEET THE 07-08 LADY BUCCS MEET THE 07-08 CHEERLEADERS

2007-08 SCHEDULE 11/01/07 12/08/07 12/14/07 12/18/07 12/21/07 12/22/07 12/29/07 01/04/08 01/05/08 01/11/08 01/12/08 01/18/08 01/19/08 01/22/08 01/25/08 01/26/08 01/29/08 02/01/08 02/02/08 02/08/08 02/19/08 Versailles @ National Trail @ Bethel Ansonia @ Tri-Village Marion Local Russia Newton @ Milton Union @ Mississinawa @ New Bremen Franklin Monroe @ Anna Miami East @ Bradford @ Fairlawn Arcanum Twin Valley South Delphos St. John's @ Tri-County North SECTIONALS 34-30 44-52 61-68 43-57 40-46 26-54 36-59 52-60 53-62 62-54 30-49 41-44 41-73 48-44 70-36 49-43 34-55 55-57 38-61 52-54 33-46 2007-08 CCC STANDINGS Team CCC ALL Twin Valley South 10-1 15-3 Tri-Village 8-1 13-3 Arcanum 8-2 11-6 Franklin Monroe 8-2 10-7 Miami East 6-3 10-6 Bethel 5-4 7-7 Ansonia 5-4 8-8 Covington 3-9 5-15 National Trail 3-7 3-13 Newton 3-6 3-12 Mississinawa Valley 3-8 4-12 Tri-County North 2-8 5-12 Bradford 0-9 1-14

February 19, 2008 - PIQUA
Covington's 46-33 loss to Fort Loramie in the sectional tournament was a microcosm of the entire season. It showcase the ills that had troubled the Buccaneer basketball team since game one - poor shooting and an inability to handle defensive pressure.

"That's been the story of our year," said Covington coach Roger Craft. "We didn't handle the pressure and we missed on a lot of scoring opportunities."

Defensively, the Buccaneers were as sound as ever and played well enough to win.

"When you only give up 46 points you expect to win," Craft continued. "It (the win) was there for us. We just didn't score or handle the pressure the way we needed to."

Covington's offensive woes began from the outset as it only converted on 2 of 12 shots in the first quarter. Both of Covington's baskets came on stick backs and the fifth point came at the free throw line.

Still, Covington was able to hold Fort Loramie to just 10 points in the frame.

"We got off to a shaky start," Craft said. "Maybe it was nerves, I don't know. You can always say it's just another game, but it isn't. There's a little more excitement in the tournament and a lot of these kids have never experienced this."

In spite of the slow start, the Buccs were able to tie the score at 11-11 early in the second quarter on a Jordy Burelison trey.

But Loramie went on an 11-0 run to push its lead to 22-11 with under 2:00 to go in the half. In the process, Andy Sparks found himself on the bench in foul trouble.

"That hurt us having Andy on the bench because we felt we could take advantage of some match-ups with him," Craft explained.

But the Buccs were still able to keep the game manageable at the half as a Kody Thiebeau jumper and a Josh Boehringer stick back made the score 22-15.

"We felt pretty good at half time because we were still in the game despite all of the things that didn't go our way in the first half," said Craft. "We knew we could take advantage of some things in the second half if we could handle the pressure and get into our offense."

The Buccs were able to get into their offense at times in the second half and when they did, the results were what Craft expected.

Andy Sparks had a monster final two quarters by scoring all 12 of his points.

"We were able to attack their post players in the second half," Craft stated. "But we were never able to do that on a consistent basis because we didn't handle their pressure."

Also, the Buccs could only manage a combined six second half points from the rest of the roster - four of those coming on free throws. Freshman Eric Beckstedt was the only Buccaneer other than Sparks to score a second half field goal.

The result was an early exit from the tournament and the end of the careers of four seniors, Bill Dickey, Kody Thiebeau, Jordy Burelison and J.J. Thompson.

"That's the thing that hurts the most," said Craft in regards to losing his seniors. "This has been a great group of kids. They could have packed it in a long time ago, but they always came to practice and gave everything they had. I hate to see them go."

Fortunately for Covington, the pain of the defeat will ease in time and the prospect of having a solid nucleus returning next year makes for higher expectations in 2008-09.

"We got a lot of young kids some experience this year," explained Craft. "We'll have a lot back next year, but the kids have some growing to do. We'll have to be better offensively and taking care of the basketball. It starts in the off-season and over the summer."

The Buccs close out the year at 5-16.

Scoring by Quarters:
Covington ................5.........15........24......33
Fort Loramie ...........10........22........36......46

Covington Scoring:
Andy Sparks - 12
Adam Craft - 9
Jordy Burelison - 3
Jordy Meyer - 2
Kody Thiebeau - 2
Josh Boehringer -2
Eric Beckstedt - 2
Ben Christian - 1

Fort Loramie Scoring:
Frilling - 14
Turner - 10
Hilgefort - 8
Westerheide - 7
Gasson - 5
Hoying - 2

Three-Point Scoring:
Covington: Burelison (1)
Fort Loramie: Turner (2)