The Shadow
The Bath County Chargers varsity basketball team had an upset in mind.
Entering the Boys Pioneer District Tournament as the sixth seed, the Chargers had the three-seeded Covington Cougars with their backs against the wall entering the final quarter down two points.
After leading for most of the game, the Chargers came back from nine points down in the first half to take the lead. The Cougars though, grabbed big fourth quarter performances from Brady Howard and Purcel Turner, as the two combined to score 15 of the teams 23 fourth quarter points to rally and defeat the Chargers 54-45.
Howard, who sat out the final few regular season games scored a game-high 15 points in his return to the basketball court on Tuesday evening to help his Cougars advance to the semifinals of the Pioneer District Tournament.
It was a collective victory from the Cougars as the team finished with three players in double figures; Howard, Turner, and Levi Dressler. Dressler, scored 11 points with eight of them coming in the first quarter which helped the Cougars jump out to an early 14-9 advantage. Dressler, knocked down three three-pointers. Turner, finished with a double-double in the win. Turner, scored 13 points and collected 13 rebounds.
Three weeks ago, the last time these two schools met, the Chargers walked away with a 46-45 victory in Bath County.
On Tuesday evening, it felt as if that was going to happen once again, but at the Cougar Den.
In the first quarter, the two teams were trading three-pointers. Dressler, would knock one down. Then, Branson Gordon, would knock one down for the Chargers and vice versa. The Chargers led 9-8 in the final few minutes of the first quarter before the Cougars ended the quarter scoring six unanswered points to take a 14-9 lead.
Early on in the second quarter, the Cougars opened the lead up to nine points at 18-9. The Chargers would cut the deficit down to five points by outscoring the Cougars 11-7 in the minutes of the second quarter. The Cougars led 25-20 at halftime.
Trailing by five points midway into the third quarter, the Chargers ended the quarter on a 9-2 scoring run to take the teams first lead of the game since the first quarter when it was 9-8. Andrew Turner, who scored all seven of his points in the third quarter, helped the Chargers regain the lead. It was on a three-pointer made by Brennan Gardzinski, that gave the Chargers a 33-31 lead.
As quickly as the Chargers grabbed the lead for the first time since the first quarter, they found themselves down by double digits before they knew it. Leading by two points 35-33, the Chargers did not have an answer for Howard and Turner in the fourth quarter as the Cougars went on a 13-0 scoring run to take a 46-35 lead. On a fast break, Dylan Williams, found an open Turner, who put the Cougars ahead 52-38 which helped seal the victory.
Ashton Cook, had a quality individual performance, scoring eight points, while bringing down eight rebounds in the win for the Cougars.
In the loss, the Chargers had one player finish in double figures. Gardzinski, scored a team-high 12 points, with all his points coming on four three-pointers. Gordon, finished the game with eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The loss for the Chargers ends the season for the team as they finish 3-20 overall. Meanwhile, Cougars played the Narrows Green Wave in the semifinal last night at Narrows.
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Ttl
BCHS 9 11 13 12 45
CHS 14 11 6 23 54
Chargers Statistics
Player Pts Reb Ast Stl
Gordon 8 8 1 1
Turner 7 2 2 2
Long 3 4 – –
Gwin 4 3 6 1
Waldeck 3 4 1 –
Hyler 2 1 – 1
Gardzinski 12 3 1 1
Tucker 2 3 – –
Loudermilk 3 – – –
Reed – – – –
Jackson – – – –
Cougars Statistics
Player Pts Reb Ast Stl
Cook 8 8 3 –
Dressler 11 2 2 3
Turner 13 13 5 4
Howard 15 4 2 4
Williams 4 – 5 2
Rodgers 2 2 – –
Maloney – 2 2 –
Hardold – 1 1 –
Weinger – 3 – –
Hubble 1 – – –
Henderson – – – –
