By Thomas Sellers Jr.
COVINGTON — Falling behind by double digits early in the contest and trailing by 10 points entering the third quarter, it appeared like a typical Covington Chargers runaway against Tipton County rivals the Munford Cougars.
But new Head Coach Nic Buford’s Cougars rallied behind the shooting of Levi Poindexter, Michael Lee and Javaris Tolton to force overtime at 60-60 Friday night. The Chargers were able to regroup in the Covington Gymnasium and pull out a 70-64 victory.
Covington got off to a hot start behind the play of Devin Dean to grab a 10-0 advantage. The Chargers surged ahead 23-11 after one quarter.
Covington kept up the intensity on defense and got timely shots from players like Holden Warmath.
The Chargers’ first half led was maintained until Lee drained a three-pointer in the third quarter to make the score 52-43 giving Munford some hope.
Despite Covington holding a 53-43 led entering the final period of regulation, Munford picked up the press on Charger guards forcing turnovers. A mixture of Tolton baskets in the post and outside shots from Lee and Poindexter help Munford trim the Covington led.
Cougars like Shane Cox, BJ Blake and Jordan Bell contributed to the rally. Late in the fourth quarter Poindexter made a pair of foul shots to give Munford a 60-58 lead. Covington had an answer with Warmath making a floater to force OT.
In the extra period Warmath made another timely bucket to regain the lead for Covington at 64-63. The Chargers outscored the Cougars 6-1 to close out the game.
