The Shadow
The Covington Cougars made sure the return of Coach Rob Bennett to the sidelines would be a memorable one as they knocked off Eastern Montgomery – the 2008 Group A, Division 1 Runner-Up – Monday night in their season opener at the Cougar Den, 81-76.
Michael Myers and Dominique Jordan led the Cougars with 22 points each, while Ryan Hall added 15 points. Myers also hauled in 10 boards to complete the double-double.
The Cougars put it on East Mont from the get-go, opening the game with a 12-0 run.
Myers’ jumper in the lane got the scoring started and Jordan’s bucket in the lane gave Covington a 4-0 lead. A Myers dish to Hall for three increased Covington’s lead to 7-0 and an Aaron Fertig pass to Jordan for another trey made it 10-0 Covington after two minutes of play.
A Keenan Smith drive to the bucket for two increased Covington’s lead to 12-0 with 5:38 remaining in the first quarter before Ethan Linkous got the Mustangs on the board after hitting 1-of-2 from the charity stripe.
Antonio Twitty’s offensive stickback increased Covington’s lead to 16-3 and the Cougars led 18-5 with 3:45 left in the first quarter.
East Mont would score the next eight points to cut their deficit to five (18-13) but Twitty’s basket with a minute remaining gave Covington a 20-13 lead after one quarter.
The Mustangs turned up the intensity in the second quarter and outscored Covington 24-12 to take a 37-32 advantage at the break.
East Mont opened the second quarter with a 10-2 run to take a 23-22 lead with 5:36 remaining in the second quarter. The Mustangs increased their lead to 27-24 after junior point guard Brad Wooten went coast-to-coast.
Jordan’s second three-ball of the game knotted the score at 27 but Wooten countered with a trey of his own to put the Mustangs back on top 30-27 with 3:27 left to play in the first half.
Eastern Montgomery led 35-32 with 50 seconds remaining in the half but Wooten knocked down a foul-line jumper to give the Mustangs a five-pointlead at the half.
East Mont’s Adam Sission hit the opened the third quarter scoring with a corner trey to increase the Mustangs’ lead to 40-32. Covington’s Hall countered with a corner three of his own to pull the Cougars back to within five (40-35).
Another Sission three-ball gave East Mont a 45-39 lead with 5:41 left to play in the third quarter but a Myers basket and a Fertig layup pulled Covington to within two (45-43).
Hall’s baseline take cut East Mont’s lead to one (46-45) with 3:54 left on the third quarter clock and back-to-back three-pointers from Wooten and Sission increased the Mustangs’ lead to 52-47.
Sission’s third three-ball of the quarter gave Eastern Montgomery a 55-49 lead with 1:55 left in the third stanza but the Cougars rallied back.
Julian Stewart’s putback gave East Mont a 57-51 lead with 1:02 left in the third before Chad Lipes layup made the score 57-53. Jordan followed with a three-ball all in Wooten’s face to pull Covington to within one (57-56) and Twitty’s stickback with one second left on the clock gave Covington a 58-57 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
Wooten hit a trey from the wing to open the fourth quarter scoring and give the Mustangs a 60-58 lead. Stewart followed with an easy layup to increase East Mont’s lead to 62-58 and a Linkous free throw made the score 63-58 with 6:38.
Perhaps the biggest play of the game came on the Cougars next possession.
Down by five, sophomore Jordan drained a trey from the top of the key and was fouled on the play. He knocked down the free throw to cap off the rare four-point play to pull Covington to within one (63-62).
The Cougars rallied to score the next eight points.
Myers hit a pair from the line, while R.J. Jeter added 1-of-2 to give Covington a 65-63 lead. A Jeter dish to Jordan for two increased Covington’s lead to 67-63 and Hall capped the eight-point run with his third three of the game to give Covington a 70-63 lead with 4:46 remaining.
Myers’ three-point play gave Covington a 73-65 lead. Eastern Montgomery was able to cut their deficit to four but that would be as close as the runner-ups would get as the Cougars held on for the huge 81-76 win in their opener.
“We said at halftime that the first team to score 80 points would win the game and we were right on,” said Covington coach Rob Bennett. “We just want to use this game as a stepping stone to get ready for district play. We fueled off the energy of the game.
“It was a total team effort tonight,” said Bennett. “Dominique (Jordan) had a great game tonight and I just want him to get to the point where he can be and Michael (Myers) had a great game in the paint for us. We’ve only been practicing for two weeks. We’re going to get better.”
Eastern Montgomery’s Stewart led all scorers with a game-high 25 points and added 12 boards. Wooten added 24 points and Sission finished with 14 points.
The Cougars lit it up from the floor, shooting 52 percent (31 for 60) despite committing 27 turnovers.
Covington (1-0) does not get much time to enjoy the victory as they are back in action tonight at Summers County, W.Va.
The Cougars made it a sweep of the Mustangs with a 64-16 win in the preliminary.
Warren Harrison scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the first half to lead Covington. Jacorey Hughes added 11 points, while Stephen Robinson finished with 10.
Leeshane Ramos and William Henderson scored six points each, Jordan Miller finished with five and Markell Wood, Luke Crawford and Brandon Phillips rounded out the CHS scoring with two points each.
Matt Epperly and Caleb Woods led Eastern Montgomery with five points each.
