The Shadow
On January 13th, the Covington Cougars (14-7, 9-2) were edged 67-64 at the Narrows Green Wave (17-5, 11-1).
At the Cougar Den on Tuesday evening, Cougars picked up their biggest win of the season as they delivered the Green Wave their first Pioneer District loss 74-68.
After scoring just five points in the first five minutes of the game and trailing 6-5, J’yon Smith would drop in back to back layups that would be the start of a 10-0 scoring run for the Cougars who took a 15-6 lead.
The Cougars would close out the first period by going on a 14-2 scoring run in the final 2:50 in the quarter to take a 19-8 lead heading into the second period.
In the second quarter, the Cougars maintained a double digit lead for nearly the first five minutes of the period. However, with 3:05 left to go in the first half, following a missed layup by Landon Shepherd, Kolier Pruett off of the miss put the ball back up and dropped it in through the net. This cut the lead down to single digits at 27-18.
The put back by Pruett was the start of the Green Waves comeback as they would outscore the Cougars 17-6 in the final three minutes to cut the lead down to just two points at 34-32. Pruett also had a put back slam dunk one-handed off of a three-point miss.
The Green Wave would open the third quarter scoring the first six points to take a 38-34 lead. It was the first time they had led in the game since leading 6-5 with under three minutes left in the first period.
Trailing by four points now, the Cougars largest deficit at the time, Dylan Williams would stop the Green Wave scoring run by knocking down a three-pointer which cut the lead down to one point.
Following the three-pointer from Williams, the two teams would go back and forth with one another with each team taking the lead multiple times in the quarter. With the third quarter winding down, Levi Smith would make reverse layup to put the Green Wave up 50-47. The Green Wave outscored the Cougars 18-13 in the third period and had outscored the Cougars 42-28 after falling behind by double digits to end the first quarter.
The Green Wave who are very good at knocking down three-pointers would extend their lead to six points at 56-50 with under seven minutes left in the game following a three-pointer from Aidan McGlothlin. It was one of those Green Wave three-pointers where you thought this one would derail the Cougars as it brought down the home crowd at the Cougar Den.
That though would not be the case.
Down 58-52, the Cougars in a span under two minutes would score nine straight points to take a 61-58 lead.
Ayden Weinger was at the center of the scoring run as he made five of the nine points. Weinger got the run started when made a layup which was followed by Desmond Jordan knocking down a difficult off-balanced five-footer that he banked in. Williams would then tie the game on a layup assisted by Turner following the third consecutive Green Waves turnover. The team would take a 61-58 lead when Weinger off of his own miss, put the ball back up and through the hoop while being fouled. Weinger would complete the three-point play on the made free throw.
With under three minutes remaining, Jordan knocked down a three-pointer to put the Cougars up 66-62. After a fantastic defensive stop thanks to great perimeter defense guarding the three-pointer by Smith, Jordan, Williams, and Turner, the Pruett wound up settling for an off-balanced mid-range jumper which he missed. This would lead to Jordan being fouled where he would knock down both free throws to put the Cougars up 68-62 with just over a minute left.
The Green Wave though would not go away. McGlothlin with 1:08 left knocked down a three-pointer to cut the lead down to one score at 68-65.
The Cougars though in the final minute of the game would seal the victory at the free throw line by knocking down 6-of-8 attempts all while the Green Wave would miss several three-point attempts in the closing minute.
The Cougars were led by Jordan who scored a team-high 19 points and was 4-for-4 at the free-throw line in the final two minutes of the game. Jordan led a trio of Cougars who scored double figures as Turner had 18, while Williams added 12.
For the Green Waves, they also had a trio of scorers in double figures. At the front of the scoring was Pruett who led all scorers with a game-high 25 points. McGlothlin had 19 along with a game-high five three-pointers, and L. Smith added 13.
While the Cougars will fall just short of the regular season district title (won by the Green Wave), the win is surely a big boost as the team heads towards the district tournament next week.
Last night, the Cougars hosted Parry McCluer, where the winner would lock up the number two seed in the district tournament and the loser would be the third seed. Regardless of the outcome from that game, both team do get to host a first-round district game. The Cougars will either host Highland or Eastern Montgomery.
Team 1 2 3 4 Ttl
NHS 8 24 18 18 68
CHS 19 15 13 31 74
Green Waves Scoring: Pruett 25, McGlothlin 19, L. Smith 13, Shepherd 5, Hunter Owens 4, Chase Smith 2
Cougars Scoring: Jordan 19, Turner 18, Williams 12, Hayden Rodgers 8, J. Smith 8, Weinger 7, Jayden Sammons 2
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In Monday’s district game, the Cougars blew past the Craig County Rocket 82-45.
Outside of the first few minutes of the game, the Rockets never were really in it with the Cougars.
With the Cougars leading 6-4, Rodgers knocked down a three-pointer to put the team up 9-4. This was the start of a 23-7 scoring run for the Cougars who took a 26-11 lead after the first period.
In the second quarter, the Rockets did make a run at the Cougars where they outscored them 11-2 in the first three minutes of the period to cut the lead down to six points at 28-22. However, that would be the closest they would get as the Cougars would go on to score the quarters final 15 points to build a 21-point halftime lead, 43-22.
The Cougars would build their lead up to as high as 31 points in the third quarter following Rodgers second made three-pointer.
Four Cougars were in double digit scoring in the win over the Rockets. Turner led the team with 19 points. Jordan scored 13, while Rodgers and Sammons each had 10.
Matthew Lucas led all scorers with a game-high 21 points to lead the Rockets, while Zachary Peters added 10.
The Cougars made 10 three-pointers in the win. Rodgers and Jayden Sammons each had two.
Team 1 2 3 4 Ttl
CCHS 11 11 10 13 45
CHS 26 17 20 19 82
Rockets Scoring: Lucas 21, Peters 10, Drew Duncan 7, C.J. Armes 3, Hayden Reynolds 2, Jaycob Wolfe 2
Cougars Scoring: Turner 19, Jordan 13, Rodgers 10, Sammons 10, Greg Rice 8, Williams 7, Joey Wright 5, Weinger 4, Dylan Pommert 3, Landon Harold 2, J. Smith 2
