COVINGTON – Everything was perfectly set up for the Covington Buccaneers to capture a win on Saturday as Buccaneer legends were on hand due to the 42nd Hall Of Fame Ceremony, which typically gives players more motivation to put forth a solid performance. Unfortunately, the Buccaneer did not play to the standard of the program and lost 54-44 to Mississinawa Valley.
“We were not the same team we were last night (against Troy Christian),” said Covington coach Logan Carey, who is trying very hard to establish a standard of success. “Some of us were satisfied with our performance from last night, and thought we could just walk in to a win. That’s not the case in varsity basketball.”
Early on it looked like the Buccs were in the right path to capture their second win in three games at the start of the season. The Buccs held a 13-7 lead after one despite missing some wide open looks at the rim. It was because of the defensive pressure implemented on Missinssinawa Valley.
The Buccs then pushed their lead to 15-7, but suddenly the momentum changed in a hurry as Covington failed to take advantage of scoring opportunities and Mississinawa took advantage on an 10-0 run to take a 17-15 lead.
“We weren’t aggressive offensively,” Carry said. “We shot one free throw to 21 for Mississinawa. We can’t win with numbers against us to that magnitude.”
The Blackhawks held a slim 19-18 lead at the break and pushed their lead to 39-36 at the end of the third.
Covington failed to shut down the Blackhawks in the final frame as they outscored the Buccs 15-8 to pull away with a ten-point victory.
“Defensively, we were out of position for most of the night,” Carey said. “Everybody so far has run a version of the same offense. It’s nothing we’ve never seen before, so the way we defended tonight was not what we want. Plus, a lot of mental breakdowns and bad body language. We tell the guys all the time “one step.” You get one step to think about the last play, good or bad, and it’s on to the next play. We didn’t perform to the standard in that department tonight.”
This was a game where the Buccaneers had a golden opportunity to capture another win, but due to the lack of focus on executing what the coaches are teaching, the record is now 1-2.
The next battle on Tuesday against a very talented Bethel team gives the Buccaneers a stiff challenge.
“We’ve got a tough matchup against Tuesday,” said Carey. “We’ll see at practice on Monday who wants to be on the floor for Tuesday. We can fix offensive mistakes and defensive mistakes. Us coaches can’t fix mistakes that happen between the ears. We’ve got some work to do in that department. We’ll have a better showing Tuesday.”
A better showing will only happened if the players buy in 100% in the philosophy implemented by the coaching staff.
| 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | FINAL | |
| COVINGTON | 13 | 5 | 18 | 8 | 44 |
| MISSISSINAWA | 7 | 12 | 20 | 15 | 54 |
COVINGTON SCORING:
Tanner Palsgrove – 10
Brogen Angle – 9
Tyler Jay – 7
Brant Angle – 7
Landin Cassel – 6
Reagan Tipps – 3
Kian French – 2
MISSISSINAWA VALLEY SCORING:
B. Hamilton – 13
C. Scott – 12
C. Hanes – 9
A. Amspaugh – 9
C. Hardy – 6
C. McGlothlin – 5
THREE-POINT SCORING:
Covington: Tanner Palsgrove (2), Tyler Jay (1), Reagan Tipps (1), Brant Angle (1), Brogen Angle (1)
Mississinawa Valley: C. McGlothlin (1), A. Amspaugh (1), C. Scott (1)
