The Welch Wildcats and the Covington-Douglas Wildcats squared off in some playoff action on Thursday, but sadly the Welch Wildcats had to settle for second. They lost to the Wildcats on the road by a decisive 51-33 margin. While losing is never fun, Welch can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Oklahoma basketball rankings (they are ranked 456th, while Covington-Douglas is ranked 221st).
Several Wildcats players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Thomas Ashworth, who scored four points along with six rebounds. Eric Pitcher was another key contributor, scoring four points along with five rebounds and two steals.
Even though they lost, Welch smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Covington-Douglas only pulled down six offensive rebounds.
Covington-Douglas was led to victory by Ford Smith and Derrek Daugherty. Smith scored 14 points along with five steals, while Daugherty dropped a double-double on 13 points and 13 rebounds. Daugherty has been hot recently, having posted three or more blocks the last five times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Kade Griffin, who scored nine points.
Welch has traveled a rocky road recently having lost seven of their last eight contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-16 record this season. As for Covington-Douglas, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 16-10 record this season.
Welch does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Covington-Douglas, they won't have much time to rest: their next match is against Kremlin-Hillsdale on February 16th. Hopefully Covington-Douglas focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 17 on Thursday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
