COVINGTON – After a slow start, the Buccaneers came up short of pulling out a comeback win as Newton held on down the stretch to hand Covington a 61-54 loss.

This was the fifth loss for Covington in the last six games against neighboring rival Newton.

Covington started off struggling to put points on the board and Newton caught fire as the Indians jumped out to a 17-3 lead within the first 3 minutes, 29 seconds into the game. The Buccaneers called a timeout and then started playing more aggressively. Still, Newton held a commanding 22-10 lead at the end of the first period and then went ahead 23-13 with 4:10 left in the half.

The Buccaneers responded by outscoring Newton 11-5 throughout the end of the second quarter to close the deficit to 34-24 at the break.

Covington appeared to take control in the third quarter by closing the gap to six points heading into the final seconds of the third period. Unfortunately, Newton drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer to push its lead to 48-39 at the end of the third.

The Buccaneers were able to cut the deficit to five points in the fourth period, but Newton took advantage of free throw opportunities to secure its victory over Covington.

Brant Angle led Covington with a game-high 22 points.

The Buccaneers are now 3-15 on the season and host Lehman Catholic this Friday for “Senior Night”.

	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	FINAL
COVINGTON	10	14	15	15	54
NEWTON	22	12	14	13	61