In the Covington Cougars (3-6) varsity boys basketball game on Tuesday, the Cougars put up a season-high 65 points in their away game against Eastern Montgomery.
The Cougars, playing on back to back nights, topped their Tuesday performance on Wednesday evening, with a 79-51 rout of the Bath County Chargers (0-13).
Javier Yancey, for the second night in a row, dropped in 20+ points as he put in a game-high 26.
Yancey, was all over the place, with making plays, passing the ball, rebounding, and dropping in buckets all game long for the Cougars as he recorded his fifth double-double on the season (26 points and 12 assists).
But, it wasn’t just Yancey, who was making the plays.
The Cougars, despite playing on back to back nights, grabbed great production from the teams role players.
Hayden Rodgers, had a block party going on in the first quarter, as he collected three blocks all coming consecutively. The Cougars finished the game with a game-high seven blocks.
While Rodgers was a problem once again for his opponent on the defensive side of the basketball, Purcel Turner, was an all-around issue for the Chargers to solve.
Turner, finished the game second in scoring overall, with 14 points, while collecting a game-high of eight rebounds to go along with five assists, and three steals.
Between the trio of Yancey, Rodgers, and Turner, the three of them, were a nightmare for the Mustangs and Chargers on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
The three-point line was also a thing of an issue for the Chargers to solve. The Cougars knocked down eight three-pointers compared to just two for the Chargers. Levi Dressler, led all players, with four three-pointers, as he finished the game with 12 points.
Much like the previous night against the Mustangs, the Cougars were in control of the game against the Chargers from the opening tip.
The Cougars jumped out of the game scoring the games first six points.
The Chargers, however, did come right back and scored five straight points to cut the lead down to one point at 6-5.
With a chance to take the lead, Andrew Turner, off of a steal, missed an uncontested layup. The missed layup would wind up being the closest the team would get to the Cougars as the Cougars led the entire game.
Following Turner’s missed layup, Dressler, made the Chargers pay for blowing their only chance at taking a lead, by knocking down one of his game-high four three-pointers which gave the Cougars a 9-5 lead.
After a Chargers basket from Hunter Waldeck, Yancey, would knock down his only three-pointer to give the Cougars a 12-7 lead. This also began the Cougars run towards their double digit victory.
Following Yancey’s three-pointer, the Cougars would go on an 8-0 scoring run. Dressler, knocked down his second three-pointer of the game which concluded the Cougars scoring run while also giving the team a 17-7 lead.
The Cougars led 22-15 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, with the Cougars leading 24-16, Dressler, knocked down his third three-pointer which gave the team a double digit lead that they wouldn’t look back on.
The Chargers would struggle to points on the scoreboard in the second quarter as the Cougars held them to only eight points in the quarter while taking a 39-23 halftime lead. The Cougars had a 16-point halftime lead, despite collecting 17 first half turnovers.
In the third quarter, the Cougars lead increased to 20+ points, which was highlighted by one of the plays of the game where on a missed shot by Isaac Gwin, Rodgers who collected the rebound, kicked out a pass from the Chargers free throw line across court to Yancey who was at the Cougars free throw line and found a trailing Turner, who cut to the basket and made the layup to put the team ahead 49-26. The play fired up with Cougars players as Chargers head coach Zach Madison needed to call a timeout.
The Cougars scored 25 points in the third quarter. 17 of those points coming from Yancey (10) and Turner (7). Yancey and Turner, also combined in the quarter with seven assists. The duo, towards the end of the quarter would connect on back to back scoring plays in which the other assisted on the play.
Despite a 17-point third quarter in which Turner scored eight of his team-high 19 points, the Chargers found themselves trailing by 24 points as they entered the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter saw the Cougars collect 10 of their 15 points for the quarter coming from the bench. Justice Maloney, opened the fourth quarter knocking down one of his two three-pointers. Maloney finished the game with six points.
After dropping six games in a row following their season opening loss, the Cougars, have now won two straight games. During this two-game win streak, the Cougars averaging 72 points a game. During their losing streak, the team was around just over 40 points a game.
You can pinpoint the Cougars success on their playmaking abilities as well as ball-control, and their defense. In the teams last two games, the offense has recorded 41 assists. Moving the basketball has been a huge boost to the teams success the last two games.
The 26 points from Yancey, were the second most he has scored in a game this season. Yancey, scored 30 in the teams season opening win over Galax. To go along with his game-high 26 points, Yancey, recorded seven rebounds, 12 assists, four steals, and one block.
Despite grabbing a season-high from Turner, the Chargers dropped their 13th game in a row. Turner finished with a team-high 19 points to go along with one rebound, four assists, and four steals.
Waldeck, finished second in scoring for the Chargers with eight points to go along with two rebounds and one assist.
Off of the bench, Branson Gordon, added in six points to go along with a team-high five rebounds, one assists, and one steal for the Chargers. Ethan Hyler, also chipped in with six points.
In the teams previous game on Tuesday against the Mustangs in which the game saw only three total free throw attempts and just one from the Cougars, the team, more than made up for it against the Chargers. Each team attempted 23 free throws in which the Cougars shot 13-for-23 and the Chargers went 9-for-23.
The win for the Cougars, improved their Pioneer District record to 2-1 on the season.
The Cougars are back on the basketball court on Tuesday evening, when the team travels to take on the Narrows Green Waves.
For the Chargers, the team hosts Parry McCluer on Tuesday.
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Ttl
BHS 15 8 17 11 51
CHS 22 17 25 15 79
Chargers Statistics
Player Pts Reb Ast Stl
Waldeck 8 2 1 –
Gardzinski – 1 2 –
Gwin 2 2 3 2
Long 6 3 – 1
Turner 19 1 4 4
Tucker – 1 – 1
Gordon 6 5 1 1
Hyler 6 – 1 1
Wilson 4 1 1 –
Jackson (Minutes Played)
Loudermilk (Minutes Played)
Cougars Statistics
Player Pts Reb Ast Stl
Yancey 26 7 12 4
Dressler 12 5 2 –
Howard 3 4 – 1
Turner 14 8 5 3
Rodgers 7 4 – 1
Maloney 6 3 – 1
Williams 5 1 1 –
Weinger 4 1 2 –
Evans – 1 1 –
Hubble 2 1 – –
Henderson (Minutes Played)
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