The Shadow
The Covington boys basketball team had to be feeling a little bit of deja vu Tuesday night after falling to the Alleghany Mountaineers, 75-40, for the second time in five nights.
Sophomore guard Kendall Kessinger hit three of his four three-pointers in the game’s first five minutes and the Mountaineer big men took control in the second half, winning the battle on the boards, 37-18.
“Kendall came out and hit some big shots early for us just like he did the last time we played them,” said Alleghany coach Thumper Leitch. “They were aggressive with their double teams, but we knew we had the advantage in the paint.
“Rashad (Chambers) got more touches in the second half and Casey (Smith) is hard to move once he gets position inside,” added Leitch.
Kessinger paced the Alleghany offense, which shot 56 percent (29 of 52) from the field, with 18 points, while Chambers added 11 points and six rebounds. Smith and Seth Bradley also finished in double figures, scoring 10 points each with Smith adding nine rebounds and Bradley finishing with seven.
Kessinger and Covington’s Chad Lipes traded three-point jabs in the opening period. Both connected on their first two attempts with Lipes’ second three pulling the Cougars within two, 10-8.
Jonathan Brown would follow with a layup and Kessinger knocked down his third three-pointer in as many attempts to increase Alleghany’s lead to 15-8 as the Mountaineers jumped out to a 19-11 lead after one.
The Mountaineers outscored the Cougars 16-6 in the second quarter to take a commanding lead at the break.
Haden Sellers dished to Seth Bradley to get the second quarter scoring started and give Alleghany a 10-point lead, 21-11. Covington’s Dominique Jordan responded with his second three-ball of the game to pull CHS within seven, but that would be as close as the Cougars would get.
Alleghany countered with a 10-0 run to take a 31-14 lead as they jumped out to a 35-17 lead after one half.
Kessinger scored 13 of his 18 points in the first half and AHS held an 18-8 edge on the board after the first 16 minutes of play.
Bradley opened the third quarter scoring with a foul line jumper before Kessinger’s fourth three-pointer of the game with 6:04 to play in the quarter extended the AHS lead to 42-21.
Sellers’ dish to Derek O’Connor with 1:03 left in the frame gave Alleghany a 30-point lead, 54-24, before Covington’s Luke Crawford came off the bench to can a three-ball from the wing.
The Mountaineers enjoyed a 58-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Brown opened the scoring with a baseline jumper before Chambers stroked a pair at the line to increase Alleghany’s lead to 62-28 as they cruised to the 75-40 non-district win.
“They’re huge,” said CHS coach Rob Bennett, referring to Alleghany’s size advantage. “I don’t know what else I could have done. They are just bigger than we are.
“I thought we were a little too dependent on the three-pointer in the first half,” added Bennett. “We took 18 shots in the first half and 13 of those were three-point attempts.
“We need to get better of taking some mid-range shots because we have no mid-range game right now,” added the CHS coach.
Jordan paced the Covington offense with 11 points, while freshman Quinton Hunter just missed double figures with nine points and Lipes added eight.
Alleghany (4-0) will be back in action Monday on the road at Patrick Henry. Action begins at 6 p.m. with the junior varsity contest.
“Monday is going to be a test for us,” said Leitch. “We played them last year and we know they are good. It’s going to be a challenge.”
Covington (3-3) will be back in action Thursday on the road at Greenbrier West. Action tips off at 6 p.m. with the junior varsity game.
The Alleghany jayvees got the evening started with an exciting 36-34 overtime win over the Covington junior varsity.
Alleghany’s Josh Greenblatt converted a conventional three-point play with seven seconds left to knot the score at 32 after regulation and send the game into overtime.
Alleghany grabbed a 34-32 lead before Covington’s Kashawn Carter canned a pair of free throws with less than a minute to go to tie things up.
It was Greenblatt who stepped up for the Mountaineers, getting fouled with five seconds to go and making both free throw attempts to lift AHS to a 36-34 win.
Brent Graham led the junior Mountaineers with nine points, while Zac Carter added eight and Greenblatt finished with seven. Cameron Persinger added six, Judson Wylie had three, Carson Cogar chipped in two and Trent Rust rounded out the AHS scoring with one point.
Raquann Matthews paced Covington with nine points, while Carter added seven and Colton Howard chipped in six. Derek Dressler added five, while Trevor Jack, Mikey Woodson and Darnell Tolson scored two each. Luke Moye rounded out the Covington scoring with one point.
