What’s that saying? “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings.”
Well, Lehman listened to the fat lady a bit prematurely and “big pup” Cole Owens did the singing, scoring 12 of his 15 points in the second half, including eight in the final stanza.
The end result, Covington rallied to beat Lehman 72-67 in the championship game of the Buckeye Insurance Holiday Classic Wednesday night at Piqua High School.
Buccaneers coach Roger Craft said, “Cole is maturing each game. He’s just a big pup, but he stepped up big time.”
And for good reason. The other biggie, senior Josh Boehringer, who kept the Buccs in it with 11 first-half points, fouled out at the 6:15 mark of the fourth quarter, trailing 55-50. It didn’t look good for Covington.
First-year Lehman coach Isaiah Williams said, “Cole is a big load. He used his size to his advantage.”
The 6′ 5″ s-o-p-h-o-m-o-r-e scored in the paint three times with powerful spin moves and then drained two clutch free throws at the 57.9 mark to give the Buccs a 68-67 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Lehman led most of the game and held an 11-point advantage after an Alex Baker three from the corner with 2:19 left in the third.
Tyler Steinke had a breakout performance for the Cavs, scoring eight first-quarter points en route to 15 total.
The Buccs closed out the third quarter on an 8-2 run to slice the lead 53-48. Kody Spade nailed a 15-footer and Eric Beckstedt stroked a 17-footer, followed by two Owens’ free throws and a Spade bucket in the paint.
Sharpshooter Beckstedt, coming off a 32-point performance the night before against Piqua, mounted the comeback with 18 second-half points. The senior finished with a game-high 23 points. Beckstedt scored 55 points, including 13 threes in the two games and was named tournament MVP.
“It was a great team effort. The team stepped up,” Craft said. “We kept our composure. We grew up tonight.”
Covington scored 43 second-half points to Lehman’s 34. After a wild and willy third quarter, Craft looked to his staff and exclaimed, “That was a wild ride.”
Dylan Owens also hit double figures for Covington with 10 points, including 5-of-5 from the line.
Nick Cordonnier paced the Cavs with 23 points and Alex Baker added 12. Baker entered the contest averaging 20 points, but the Covington defense stayed with him most of the game.
The Buccs improve to 4-3 and Lehman drops to 2-3.
Russia won the consolation game by defeating hapless Piqua 58-41.
