COVINGTON – Saturday North Montgomery traveled to Covington and came home with their second win of the season. The Chargers hit shots that had not been falling for them since their first win against Speedway two weeks ago. The Chargers defeated the Trojans 48-35.
Senior Colton Zachary led the way for North Montgomery by scoring a game high 18 points. Zachary hit five of ten shots including four three-point baskets. He also was 4-for-4 in the fourth quarter from the charity stripe to help seal the win.
Zachary credited his teammates for finding him when he was open.
“My teammates realized I was hot and they got me the ball,” Zachary said. “We lost last night against Crawfordsville because we could not hit open shots. The whole team was able to get our offense going tonight. It felt good.”
The Chargers fell behind early in the first quarter by a 5-0 score. Zachary was able to connect on two treys to give North their first lead at 6-5. Senior Mikale Willis drove by his defender and scored at the buzzer to give the Chargers an 8-6 lead heading into the second stanza.
North struggled with five turnovers in the second frame which gave Covington some momentum. The Trojan had their biggest lead of the game with 3:23 left in the quarter with a score of 16-10. However, sophomore Cameron Enlow connected on two treys and the North defense held Covington scoreless the rest of the period. The Chargers took an 18-16 lead into intermission.
In the third quarter the Trojans tied the score at 28 apiece with back-to-back three pointers by junior Austin Stein. But, North regrouped and took a 34-31 lead at the end of the third quarter. The Chargers extended their lead in the fourth quarter by scoring 14 points. Ten of the points came at the free throw line. Besides Zachary, junior Jarrod Kirsch made all four of his free throws and sophomore Kelby Harwood was 2-for-2. The Trojan only score four points in the final stanza.
Covington coach Evan Morgan bemoaned after the game that his team is having trouble scoring.
“We had a lot of problems,” Morgan said. “We didn’t follow directions and not very coachable. We have to get better.”
Covington employed a 1-3-1 zone defense much of the game. North Montgomery (2-4) had little trouble running the zone offense because they kept the ball moving. North Montgomery coach Chad Arnold said the play of Ross Dyson moving hitting open teammates was a key in the victory.
“Ross Dyson is the best player I have ever coached in the middle of a zone,” Arnold said. “He moves the ball and finds the open players. He is tough.”
Harwood added 14 points for the Chargers and Coye Ferguson led Covington with 10 points.
Arnold said he was once again pleased with the effort and was glad to see his squad get a victory.
“It was good for the team to get a win because they have been working so hard,” Arnold said. “Our defense is getting better and tonight we made some shots.”
North Montgomery will be back on the court 7:30 p.m. Monday when they travel to Rossville to play the Hornets in the Delphi Kitchen Classic. The tournament has changed format this year including having eight teams instead of four. The first round games will be played at various sites.
Covington will play Attica Wednesday in the Bi-County Tournament.
