NEW MARKET — So close.
That was the story of the game as the Southmont boys’ basketball team hosted Covington on Friday night, but fell 54-50. The Mounties took their first lead of the game, 36-35, on a Logan Oppy 3-pointer with 1:34 left in the third quarter. Both teams continued to battle back and forth down the stretch but Covington made “just one more play in the end,” as Coach Jake Turner described.
“Other than a few small things, I’m very proud of how we played tonight,” he said. “We had a season low in turnovers and executed very well against their zone. Some of the shots that we normally make tonight just didn’t go down. We’re disappointed about the loss but not with our effort.”
The Mounties (6-6 2-2 SAC) had the chance to tie the game with just 13 seconds left but missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, and the Trojans were able to knock down a pair of free-throws at the other end to seal the win.
Avery Saunders led the Mounties in scoring with 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the loss. Logan Oppy added in 10. Both Carson Chadd and Cale Hess ended with nine. Logan Pinkerton caught fire for the Trojans in the fourth quarter and led all scorers with 26.
“I’m really happy with the way Cale is starting to play for us,” Turner said of his point guard. “Austin did have a rough night, but that’s what’s great about our team is when one guy is off, other guys are able to step up. I’m very confident that Austin will score and shoot better than he did tonight. Hopefully Cale’s success continues for us too because I think that will make us that more dangerous.”
Despite the loss, Turner and his team took positives away from competing wire to wire with a talented Troian team.
“Even though we lost the game I thought we got better tonight,” he said. “We talked about how they had to be the ones to beat us tonight. In the last few games even though we’ve won, we’ve made some careless mistakes. I think that another tight game like this against a great team well help us in the long run.”
The Mounties will have a week off before traveling to Sagamore Conference foe Lebanon next Friday.
