Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 23, 1991 TAG: 9102230355
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: NATURAL BRIDGE LENGTH: Medium
Covington settled the Pioneer District regular-season championship with a bang by demolishing James River 65-44. This one-game playoff was no contest after the midway point of the third quarter as Adaryl "Pooh" Twitty and his mates pulled away.
Covington (15-6) locked up a spot in the Region C semifinals, meaning the Cougars need to win one game to make it back to the Group A tournament they played in two years ago. James River (14-7), which has been to the state two years in a row, including a runner-up finish last year, will have to go through the district and win two games in the region to return.
Twitty scored a game-high 23 points to go with six assists and four steals. He had help from 6-foot-2, 220-pound junior Tony Jeter (22 rebounds) and smooth-shooting guard Everett Hughes (15 second-half points).
"I don't know that we can play any better," Covington coach Brad Morton said. "The last seven days, we've played pretty well."
That would be since the Cougars blew a game at home to Natural Bridge and very nearly lost a chance at winning the Pioneer crown. When Covington did that, it was forced to beat James River twice, which it did.
"This is the best we've played," Twitty said. "We had a good defensive effort.
"We had a team meeting after the Natural Bridge game and said we'd have to play better defense and get the ball inside or else we'd be sitting at home."
After beating James River 76-62 last Friday at home, the Cougars won a second game at Natural Bridge while the Knights won at Lexington.
"This is the right time to play well. If we keep this up, we'll be there [in the state]," Twitty said.
Covington never trailed, jumping to a 13-5 lead in the first quarter against the cold-shooting Knights. Also, James River starters Melvin Christian and Clint Barlow each picked up three first-half fouls.
The Cougars led only 28-19 at intermission, then James River opened the second half with a 9-4 spurt to make it 32-28 as Barlow got his only two field goals of the night.
However, Twitty took over. He scored eight of his 10 third-quarter points in the next 5:21 and also had an assist as Covington opened a 47-31 lead to virtually settle the game.
"We just didn't do anything we've been doing all along," James River coach John Shotwell said. "We didn't play good offense or rebound. We were close in the game at their place until the last few minutes, and I was hoping that we'd have a chance to be that close here. They took us right out of our game."
The Cougars had 28 turnovers themselves or they might have won by a larger margin. But Covington made 27 of 51 (52.9 percent) field-goal attempts and held a 51-26 rebounding advantage thanks to Jeter.
The Knights had only 14 turnovers, but shot 18-of-63 (28.6 percent) from the floor. Christian, the Knights' second-leading scorer, never got a point after hitting James River's first field goal. Derek Jones was the only double-figure scorer for the Knights with 13.
JAMES RIVER (44)
Christian 1 0-2 2, Rodgers 2 0-0 4, Barlow 2 1-2 5, Jones 5 1-2 13, Shotwell 1 0-3 2, Wilhelm 3 1-3 7, Caldwell 1 0-0 2, Austin 1 2-2 4, Dwier 2 0-0 4. Totals 18 5-14 44. COVINGTON (65)
Dressler 3 0-0 6, Twitty 8 6-8 23, Jeter 5 3-6 13, Hughes 8 1-2 17, Caul 1 0-0 2, Hunter 1 0-0 2, Jordan 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 10-16 65. James River 5141213-44 Covington 13152017-65 Three-point goals: Jones 2, Twitty. Team fouls: James River 12, Covington 12.
by CNB