CASSTOWN – The Covington Buccaneers faced Miami East, one to the premier basketball programs in the Three Rivers Conference, and battled hard in a 12-point defeat on the road.

“We played much better tonight,” commented Covington coach Logan Carey. “Proud of the effort, I’m proud of the fight, and I think we are turning a corner. If we keep playing like that, we are going to turn a corner and hit our potential. We are really close to being a scary basketball team.”

Miami East jumped out to an 8-0 lead as the Buccaneers struggled with six travel calls throughout the entire first half. Fortunately, a huge trey by Britton Miller ignited the Buccs and they were able to get back into the game by outscoring the Vikings 14-10 over the rest of the half.

Trailing 18-14 at the break, the Buccaneers had high hopes of pulling off a huge win, but Miami East was able to outscore Covington 33-25 in the second half.

And much of that was due to Viking senior Jacob Roeth, who scored 19 of his game-high 23 points in the final two periods.

The game ended with Covington dropping the contest by the score of 51-39.

Covington falls to 3-8 on the season and 1-6 in the TRC. The Buccs host Fairlawn tomorrow night on the same evening of the 41st annual Covington Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

SCORE BY QUARTERS:
Covington – 12 – 14 – 26 – 39
Miami East – 12 – 18 – 36 – 51

COVINGTON SCORING:
Britton Miller – 19
Bryson Hite – 7
Connor Humphrey – 6
Tanner Palsgrove – 3
Gunner Kimmel – 2
Brogen Angle – 2

MIAMI EAST SCORING:
Jacob Roeth – 23
Kamden Wolfe – 9
Ty Rohrer – 7
Connor Apple – 7
Devon Abshire – 5

THREE-POINT SCORING:
Covington – Britton Miller (2), Bryson Hite (1), Tanner Palsgrove (1)
Miami East – Jacob Roeth (2)