For those who paid to get into the Cougar Den Monday night, you got your money’s worth.
The Cougars played host to James River, ranked third in Group A in the latest prep polls, and held their own despite falling, 72-61.
“The fans definitely got their money’s worth tonight,” said Cougars coach Rob Bennett. “We had a much better effort tonight against them than we did when we played them at their place.”
Covington could have just laid down after falling behind 24-14 after the first quarter, but the Cougars fought hard until the final whistle.
Jordan Talbott’s trey from the wing gave the Knights a 6-2 lead and Ethan Humphries’ jumper with 4:45 left in the opening stanza increased James River’s lead to 15-3.
Andrew Tucker’s bucket off a Humphries assist gave James River a 23-7 lead, but Covington’s Keenan Smith added a layup and R.J. Jeter knocked down a 3-ball to make the score 23-12 as the Cougars trailed 24-12 after one.
The Knights pushed their margin to 19 at the half.
John Bennett’s three gave James River (20-2, 10-0) a 31-16 lead and they led 34-18 following Patrick Bennett’s stickback with 3:49 left in the first half.
Smith’s bucket with 2:29 left in the second brought the Cougars to within 12 (34-22), but the Knights would go on an 8-1 run to close the quarter as they led 42-23 at the break.
Chad Lipes and Dominique Jordan knocked down back-to-back threes to open the third quarter for Covington and bring the Cougars to within 13 (42-29) with 6:54 left in the third.
Jordan added two more triples two minutes later in the quarter to make the score 47-37. Michael Myers stickback with 1:48 left in the third made
the score 54-40.
James River led 56-42 with less than a minute to play, but Smith added a late drive-and-layup for the Cougars to cut the Knights’ lead to 56-44 heading into the fourth quarter.
Ryan Hall’s triple off a Lipes assist pulled the Cougars to within nine (56-47) with 6:42 remaining and Lipes’ 3-ball a minute later cut the Knights’ lead to 59-53.
Six points would be as close as the Cougars would get as James River would push the margin back to 11 with a little over two minutes remaining and hold on for the 72-61 win to complete their run of the Pioneer District.
Covington found their touch from behind the arc in the second half, knocking down eight of their nine 3-balls in the third and fourth quarters en route to outscoring the Knights, 38-30.
“I was really happy with the effort tonight,” said Bennett. “They helped us at the free throw line, but we didn’t help ourselves by missing some early layups.
“We laid down at their place in the second half, but we finished strong tonight against a class team,” added Bennett.
Patrick Bennett led the Knights with a 23-point, 10 rebound double-double. Talbott added 19 points and Tucker finished with 14.
Lipes led the Cougars with 12 points, all coming on four three-pointers. Hall and Jordan finished with nine points each.
Covington (7-9, 4-4) will be back in action Wednesday when they play host to Craig County. Tonight’s scheduled game at Bath County has been postponed to Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Covington junior varsity team opened the night with a 56-37 win over the Knights.
Warren Harrison paced the Cougars with 12 points, while Jacorey Hughes added 10. Steven Robinson finished with nine and Tanner Paxton chipped in eight, while Jordan Miller added seven.
Brandon Phillips finished with four and Markell Wood and Luke Crawford rounded out the Covington scoring with three points each.
The Covington junior varsity improved to 7-7 on the year.