By Logan Riddick / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
When action paused at the 5:42 mark of the second quarter, North Cross junior forward Bennett Holley had just sunk a three-pointer to reach 1,000 career points. The Raiders had also opened a 10-point lead. Slowly but surely, Covenant whittled away at the deficit and tied the game with three minutes to play.
But Holley and senior guard Matt Doughty came up big down the stretch to propel North Cross to a 56-50 victory in front of a raucous “White-Out Friday” crowd at Covenant.
“Gotta give it to Covenant, they had a good crowd and played tough,” said Holley, who finished with 12 points and four emphatic blocked shots. “We just knew we should win the game. We were undefeated in the league and we wanted to stay undefeated.”
Things started well for the Eagles as they opened a 7-2 lead after Holley picked up his second foul just over three minutes into game. Covenant had its own early foul trouble, as guard DeNeil Bryant and forwards Kurt Diduch and Matt Shobe all committed two within six and a half minutes. Eagle defenders looked to draw charges on two occasions, but were whistled for blocking fouls.
“We had a couple of tough calls,” said Covenant coach Travis Johnson. “But that’s part of the game. You’re going to have to deal with foul trouble.”
North Cross closed the quarter on a 9-0 run to lead 17-12, and the Raiders’ run continued early in the second as the margin reached 23-13 on Holley’s milestone trey. Covenant managed to turn the tide with a 10-2 spurt over the next three and a half minutes, including threes from Bryant and Henry Pollard. Doughty and senior Covenant center Trent Jenkins exchanged buckets to make it 27-25 for North Cross at the break.
“I thought we weathered the storm really well,” said Johnson. “I told the guys, ‘just keep getting stops and keep executing on offense.’ I thought we were patient on offense. We got the shots we wanted and were able to get back in the game.”
Shobe tied the game briefly with 2:02 left in the third by completing an old-fashioned three-point play. The Raiders responded by scoring the next five points, including Holley’s second three-point bucket. Physical play continued to draw whistles as both teams were in the bonus as the quarter ended with North Cross up 40-37. Early in the fourth, the Eagles finally drew an offensive foul with a charge called on North Cross guard Keith Oddo, eliciting a Bronx Cheer from the home crowd.
Ten seconds later, Oddo picked up his fifth foul defending Matt Cogswell, who hit both free throws to pull Covenant within one. With the Raiders facing the last 6:23 without their starting point guard, Doughty promptly stepped up by driving for three inside buckets, including two reverse lay-ins.
“Matt sort of took over [after Oddo fouled out] and he really came through in the end for us,” said North Cross coach Ed Green of his senior guard who went for a game-high 14 points. “Matt seemed to be the end result of the ball being passed down the court. That was the big lift we needed, to get that ball down court.”
After Cogswell’s layup for Covenant tied the game at 44, North Cross mounted a 7-0 run over a minute and eighteen seconds thanks to Doughty, Holley (2/2 at the line), reserve guard Jordan Lowery, and forward Kennedy Nwambia (1/2 at the line). Bryant finally hit a three for Covenant with 10 seconds left, but the Raiders had built the lead to nine with solid free throw shooting and defensive rebounding.
“We went to a man-to-man and hoped to force some turnovers,” Green said. “I thought we got pretty lucky right down at the end. We got a long rebound bounce, got it down the court, got the layup. They had to foul us then, and we went to the line a few times and made our shots.”
Bryant led Covenant with 13 points. Pollard added 10, while Jenkins posted nine points and a team-high eight rebounds. The Eagles will next travel to Holy Cross for a 6:30pm game on Monday night.
