The Shadow
What started out as a close basketball game through a half quickly turned one-sided as the Alleghany Mountaineers moved to .500 on the year with a 76-53 win over Covington Wednesday night in Mountaineer Gym.
Led by 18 points from senior Victor Brown, the Alleghany Mountaineers turned a three-point lead at the half into a 14-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
“We saw them over the weekend and we expected them to get up and down the floor,” said Alleghany coach Thumper Leitch. “It took us a while to adjust to their zone defense and we made some bad decisions early on.
“When we finally got our legs under us and started playing smart basketball, we created a lot of easy buckets for ourselves,” added Leitch.
Alleghany led 4-2 following Anthony Church’s foul-line jumper but Covington’s Dominique Jordan hit a runner in the lane and Ryan Hall followed with a trey from the corner to give Covington a 7-4 lead with 3:26 left in the opening stanza.
Covington led 11-6 following a Hall dish to Michael Myers for two.
Three straight Mountaineer free throws brought Alleghany to within two (11-9) with seven seconds left but Covington’s Chad Lipes stroked the first of his two threes at the buzzer to give Covington a 14-9 lead after one quarter.
Back came the Mountaineers and they never looked back.
Alleghany opened the second quarter with an 8-0 run capped by Justin Lowen’s offensive stickback to give Alleghany a 17-14 lead with 5:38 remaining in the first half.
A Myers free throw made the score 17-15, but a pair of free throws from Cassidy Burns and a Lucas Kirby dish to Tyler Crosier gave Alleghany a 23-15 lead.
Brown’s trey from the wing increased Alleghany’s lead to 26-18 with 3:06 left in the second quarter but Covington’s Keenan Smith countered with a three-point play of his own to bring the Cougars back to within five (26-21).
Alleghany led 29-21 with 1:30 remaining, but a Smith runner and three R.J. Jeter free throws made the score 29-26 at the half in favor of the Mountaineers.
Alleghany opened the second half with an 8-0 run, in which Kirby scored six of the Mounties’ eight points, to take a 37-26 lead. Lipes’ dish to Myers made the score 37-28 but Mark Tembo went coast-to-coast and Church added a layup to increase the Mountaineer lead to 41-28 with 4:56 left in the third.
A Lipes three-ball coupled with Myers jumper in the paint cut the Cougar deficit to nine (44-35) with 1:16 remaining the third.
Brown’s take with 32 seconds left gave Alleghany a 50-36 lead and the Mountaineers led 52-38 going into the fourth quarter.
“That’s the second bad third quarter we’ve had in a row,” said Covington coach Rob Bennett. “A lot of it was their physical nature that got us out of our rhythm, but we’ve got kids struggling who want to pout about it.”
Tembo’s dish to Crosier with 6:05 remaining gave Alleghany a 60-40 lead and Alleghany led 68-46 following a Cassidy Burns basket, and they led 76-50 following a Dakota Nicely dish to Grant Cogar.
Covington’s Hall stroked his second triple of the day with 25 seconds remaining to make the score 76-53.
“We were disappointed with the way we played last week and we knew coming into tonight that Covington was going to push the ball up and down the floor,” said Leitch. “It was good to get a win and hopefully this can give the team some confidence and we can go with it.”
Kirby backed Brown with a 13-point, seven rebound effort, while Crosier added 12 points off the bench. Lowen led the Mountaineers on the glass with 10 rebounds.
Myers led a quartet of Cougars in double figures with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Smith, Hall and Lipes added 10 points each.
Alleghany (3-3) will be back in action Friday at Bath County. Action starts at 6 p.m. with the junior varsity game.
Covington (2-3) also returns to action Friday night when they travel to Elliston to take on Eastern Montgomery.
“I’ve never been a coach who believes in records,” said Bennett. “Right now all we are doing is preparing ourselves for our Pioneer District schedule. That’s what’s important.
“We’re not playing easy teams and the team knows that,” added Bennett. “Hopefully it pays off in the long run.”
Alleghany made it a sweep with a 60-51 win in the preliminary.
Alleghany led 12-5 after one and 34-17 at the half. Covington trailed 38-28 midway through the fourth quarter and used a 13-0 run to take a 41-38 run, but Alleghany outscored Covington 18-10 in the final quarter for the win.
Rashad Chambers led Alleghany with 13 points, while DeAndre Burks added 12. Chuckie Zimmerman and Ethan Nicely finished with eight points each and Hunter Deisher added seven.
Ethan Dew chipped in four points, while Casey Smith, Patrick Burns, Daniel Nicely and Jonathan Brown rounded out the AHS scoring with two points each.
Jacorey Hughes led Covington with 14 points, while Stephen Robinson finished with 12 points. Tanner Paxton added eight, Brandon Phillips chipped in seven and Warren Harrison had six points, while Luke Crawford had three and LeeShane Ramos rounded out the Covington scoring with one point.
