UNION CITY – A dominant second-half performance on both ends of the floor lifted the Mississinawa Valley Blackhawks to a 54-39 non-conference victory over the visiting Covington Buccaneers Tuesday night at The Nest.
“Same scenario as last year,” said MV head coach Jeff Vaughn. “It’s a huge game, and I am super proud of my kids for how they responded in the second half because at halftime I wasn’t a real nice guy with them—our effort, making stupid decisions, and taking some ill-advised shots.”
Covington opened with an 8-4 advantage before the Blackhawks answered with eight straight points to take a 12-8 lead late in the first quarter. The Buccs closed strong, sending the teams to the break deadlocked at 12-12.
The second quarter mirrored the first—tight, physical, and back-and-forth. Covington struck first to go up 14-12 at 7:40 and later held a 19-18 edge at the three-minute mark. The teams continued trading baskets before Covington carried a 29-27 lead into halftime.
“We knew what they were going to do,” Vaughn said. “We worked on running our offense, and we never did run it right. It was very frustrating and we scrapped it. I was really upset because we worked on it and we knew we had a chance.”
Mississinawa Valley regrouped after the break, outscoring the Buccs by three in the third quarter to take a narrow 36-35 advantage into the final period.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Blackhawks.
Mississinawa Valley surged to a 46-36 double-digit lead midway through the period and never looked back, holding Covington to just 10 second-half points while pulling away for the 15-point win. Scott led the way with 12 points as the Blackhawks secured their first victory of the 2025-26 season.
“It was our defensive effort and finally making some good decisions,” Vaughn said. “Kyle Wehrkamp made some good passes to Cing on cuts in the back—little things that don’t show up.”
“Cing decided he wanted to take over,” he added. “It’s no secret—people know Cing’s our scorer, and they’re going to face-guard and follow him. He’s growing as a person and becoming a better basketball player.”
“We stayed with it, we persevered,” Vaughn concluded. “I have to keep reminding myself I’m dealing with 15, 16, and 17-year-old kids, and sometimes maybe my expectations are too high—but that’s how I roll, and I think these kids know that. I am super proud of them. We gave up 10 points that whole second half, so the turning point was our defensive pressure.”
Cing Scott led Mississinawa Valley and all scorers with a game-high 30 points. Covington sophomore Brant Angle led the BUCCS with 19 points, including 5 3-pointers.
BOX SCORE:
MISSISSINAWA VALLEY 54, COVINGTON 39
MISSISSINAWA VALLEY – C. Scott 30, K Wehrkamp 7, J. Beanblossom 5, C. Hardy 4, C. Hanes 4, E. Seubert 2, A. Amspaugh 2 – TOTALS 20 11-10 1 54
COVINGTON – B. Angle 19, B. Denson 10, K. Welborn 5, J. Wackler 3, N. Carnes 2 – TOTALS 7 4-6 7 39
3-POINTERS
Mississinawa Valley 1 (J. Beanblossom 1)
Covington 7 (B. Angle 5, K. Welborn 1, B. Denson 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
12-15-09-18 54 Mississinawa Valley
12-17-06-04 39 Covington
