For Matt Shobe, Thursday’s Covenant boys basketball senior night was about more than basketball. It was about friendship.
“The seniors are my best friends, I hang out with them in school all day and outside of school all the time,” Shobe said. “It’s awesome to be a part of a win like this, it’s awesome to finish my career like this.”
With a 47-34 victory over Eastern Mennonite that included a barrage of fourth quarter 3-pointers, including one from somewhere near the parking lot by Shobe, who finished with just five points but the set the table for his teammates all night, Covenant ended its final home game of the regular season with a big win.
“Matt has been in a different situation this year than he’s ever been in his career because he’s been really a marked man,” said Covenant coach Brooks Berry. “He’s done a great job of being patient within our offense and allowing opportunities to come to other guys.”
That was on display Thursday with Seth Dalton serving as a prime example. Dalton had two of those fourth quarter 3-pointers, exploding for 13 points after scoring just 20 points all season for Covenant. Dalton actually found out just minutes before the game that he was accepted at the University of Kentucky, opening the letter with his teammates. From there, he put together perhaps the game of his life.
“Every time I would drive or somebody else would drive, his guy would double off and he just kept knocking down his shots,” Shobe said. “It’s awesome for him to have hard work pay off like that.”
The Eagles were deadlocked with Eastern Mennonite at 31-31 after three quarters, but Covenant’s defense clamped down in the fourth quarter, holding the Flames to just three points in the final frame. It helped that another senior, Devan McAuley, knocked down all four of his free throws in the fourth and that Josh Klein hit a huge early 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter scoring. Covenant senior Austin Davis played a big role defensively and hit a pair of free throws in the third quarter.
The Eagles’ senior class were put in a tough place this year with Berry taking over as head coach, stuck in a transition season with a new system.
“As a staff we knew it was going to take the guys a while to adjust to our system offensively and defensively,” Berry said. “We figured we would be peaking at this time of year.”
Thursday night that appeared to be exactly the case as the Eagles fought through a close contest and instead of coming apart in the fourth, they came together.
That makes sense in particular for the seniors. It’s easy to come together with your friends.
“It’s a big deal for us to finish, we’ve struggled and faltered in the fourth,” Shobe said. “This game it was 14-3 in the fourth that’s a huge step for our team and I think we can take that into the VIC playoffs.”
