COVINGTON – The Covington Buccaneers put forth their best performance of the season in a 48-42 victory over longtime rival, Miami East.

Games against Miami East in all sports always seems to have the largest crowd for Covington and a lot of fans from both schools were on hand to support their teams. This made the game so exciting, especially for Covington due to the effort the players gave throughout the entire game.

Covington started off on fire as it built a 17-9 lead in the first quarter due to two three-pointers, five two-point buckets and a free throw. Unfortunately, the Buccaneers went stone cold throughout the second quarter and in the first two minutes of the third quarter as they only score two points in that timeframe.

But what kept the Buccaneers in contention to stay close to Miami East was the defense as the Vikings were only able to build a 23-19 lead with six minutes left in the third period. Covington was able regroup offensively and outscored the Vikings 15-8 in the third quarter to take a 34-29 lead heading into the final frame.

Still, Miami East was able to battle back and closed the gap to one point midway through the fourth period, but a huge play made by Rider Robbins and a another one by Brant Angle turned the momentum back to the Buccaneers. Covington was able to close out the game down the stretch by scoring enough points to preserve the win, despite making just six out of 15 free throws in the fourth quarter.

“We are slowly starting to figure things out and learning,” explained Covington coach Logan Carey. “A great win for our guys and couldn’t be prouder of them. We are getting mentally stronger every day and figuring things out as a team. It was a great win today for our program with the fifth and sixth showing up too. Just an all around amazing atmosphere.”

Brant Angle led the Buccs with 16 points and Brairen Denson tallied 11 points. Rider Robbins, a sophomore, had a huge impact on the game as he scored nine points with seven of them in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.

Covington is now 2-12 overall and 2-6 in the TRC with the next game being at Troy Christian on Tuesday.

	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	FINAL
COVINGTON	17	2	15	14	48
MIAMI EAST	9	12	8	13	42

COVINGTON SCORING:
Brant Angle – 16
Brairen Denson – 11
Rider Robbins – 9
Landin Cassel – 7
Nicholas Carnes – 5

MIAMI EAST SCORING:
Brody Antonides – 18
Keiden Pratt – 10
Nolan Crane – 9
Luke Fulton – 5

THREE-POINT SCORING:
Covington – Brairen Denson (2), Brant Angle (1)
Miami East – Brody Antonines (4), Keidin Pratt (3)