Covington hangs on to defeat Slidell

Covington seemingly had Tuesday’s district opener at Slidell in hand with 2:04 left and a 51-43 lead, but the contest turned into foul-fest and the Lions hit just 9-of-17 free throws down the stretch. The Tigers clawed their way back before falling, 60-57.

Covington led 59-54 with three seconds left when Slidell’s Logan Jordan hit from behind the arc. The Tigers fouled Marquis Porter with 0.8 seconds left. He split the two shots, hitting the second one, which kept the clock stopped. The inbounds went to D.J. Dauphin, whose last-second shot from three-quarters court hit the rim.

Covington second-year coach Mike Smith, who has been at the school for three years, talked about his excitement in the victory.

“This was an absolute great win for us,” Smith said. “Slidell’s always been a thorn in Covington’s side as far as I’ve been there. It was a great win and a great way to start the district.”

CHS is 14-6 overall going into tonight’s home game with Ponchatoula. Slidell (9-9) will try to turn its fortune around tonight as it travels to play the Mandeville.

The Lions jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first quarter as Jordan Bedford got hot, scoring eight of his game-high 23 points during the opening period.

“I was warming up and I was ready for it, so I took my time and did what I had to do,” Bedford said.

After Covington’s hot start, the Tigers scored four in a row, trimming it to 11-6 after the first.

In the second quarter, the Tigers tied the game at 14-14 with 1:55 left when Tevin Parker, who led SHS with 15 points, knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

The Lions held tough and re-took the advantage, 16-14, when Phillip Bickham, who had 13 points collected a steal and put in the layup.

Slidell got to 16-15 and then Cranston Smith gave his team its first lead, 17-16 when he hit a turnaround jumper with 20 seconds left.

Covington took an 18-17 lead into halftime as Bickham hit a shot with two seconds left.

The third quarter went back-and-forth as neither team had a lead bigger than four, which Slidell had at 32-28 with 1:08 remaining.

Bradford and Joel Bailey combined for the final four points of the quarter and the teams went into the final quarter tied at 32-32.

The Lions began the fourth period with the ball and Bailey, who scored 12 points, tallied again to give CHS a 34-32 edge, but Parker came back and tied the game.

But CHS went on a 9-0 run and led 43-34 with 4:57 to go. Bailey began the spurt with a layup and then Porter knocked down a 3-pointer. Bradford finished the run with a pair of buckets.

After a Slidell basket, Bradford hit from long range and it was 46-36 with 4:15 left.

With 2:28 left, CHS led 50-40, but Slidell’s Armand Williams hit a 3-pointer, trimming the lead to 50-43.

Slidell got back in the game, but came up short.

Tigers’ coach Dale Chimento shouldered much of the blame for the loss.

“We’re not a very good basketball team,” Chimento said. “We’re not very well coached, we don’t execute very well and it cost us in this ballgame.”