A BATTLE...is what Covington and Miami East put each other through as evident by this scramble for a loose ball.

DECEMBER 15, 2009 - COVINGTON
If you would have told Covington coach Roger Craft before Tuesday's game against Miami East that his Buccaneers would win without a single shot attempt by leading scorer Eric Beckstedt and without having one player score in double digits, he wouldn't believe it.

"Not very likely," chuckled Craft in regards to the scenario in which the Buccs captured a 43-35 win. "Eric (Beckstedt) tried to go, but with what they were doing to him defensively we felt it would be better to try and go as much as we could without him. Fortunately we had several players step up and we came away with the win."

With Beckstedt starting the contest and then seeing limited spot duty, Martin Lesitner stepped in and played a very controlled game. The junior picked his spots, hitting on all three of his shot attempts from behind the arc for nine points - each three-pointer coming when the Buccs needed a lift.

"Martin hit some really big shots for us," Craft praised. "He also handled the ball well and played solid defensively."

Leistner's effort was needed as Miami East had the pace of the game going its way. Plus, the Viking's defensive pressure was smothering Covington from start to finish - making it very difficult for the Buccs to get off any shots.

"The tempo of the game was in their favor and a lot of that had to do with how well they trapped and their zone defense," Craft explained. "But our kids scratched and clawed tonight. We tried to pick up the tempo, but they are very sound defensively. This is the type of game we would have lost last year."

Miami East pestered Covington from the outset to build a 12-5 before the Buccs scored five straight points to cut the margin to 12-10 at the end of the first quarter.

The offensive output remained minimal in the second quarter as both teams combined for just 12 points as the game was deadlocked at the half 17-17.

Covington held a 14-10 advantage in the third quarter and then sealed the contest in the final frame.

And Craft credits the defensive effort of his team for taking an ugly game and turning it into their favor.

"This was our best defensive effort by far," he said. "When you hold a team to 35 points you have a pretty good chance at winning."

Miami East was 12-for-37 from the field for 32% and 1-for-10 from behind the arc for 10%. The Vikings also struggled from the free throw line as they connected on 10 of 25 for 40%.

The Buccs were more economical with their shots, converting on 17 of 33 from the for 51%, 3 of 8 from behind the arc for 37% and 6 of 9 from the charity stripe for 67%.

"Shots were hard to come by, but when we got the shots we did a good job of getting to the rim," Craft said. "We still rushed some shots but a lot of that is a credit to their trapping defense."

That trapping defense forced the Buccs into 17 turnovers, but Covington was able to gain an advantage on the boards with 22 rebounds to 15 for Miami East.

"We still need to improve on the boards and handling the pressure," said Craft.

In the end the difference in the game was arguably the depth on the Covington roster, especially with Beckstedt's limited availability. This was evident by the 14 points the Buccs received from the bench compared to the 0 points Miami East tallied from its bench.

"That's huge," said Craft in regards to his bench players. "We had some kids step up - Martin (Leistner), Cole (Owens) and Sprank (Garrett Sprankle)."

The victory improves Covington to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the CCC, while Miami East drops to 3-1 and 1-1 in conference play.

SCORING BY QUARTERS:
Miami East ............12......5.....10......8 - 35
Covington .............10.......7.....14....12 - 43

Covington Scoring:
Josh Boehringer - 9
Martin Leistner - 9
Adam Craft - 8
Jordy Meyer - 7
Ben Christian - 5
Cole Owens - 5

Miami East Scoring:
Bradley Coomes - 16
Justin Hershberger - 7
Tyler Dunivan - 7
Josh Snyder - 5

Three-Point Scoring:
Covington: Martin Leistner (3)
Miami East: Justin Hershberger (1)