When the final buzzer blew in their game against Covington, Tenn., Saturday afternoon the Charleston Bluejays found themselves in the rare position of leaving the Riverbend Shootout without a win. Trying to rebound from a season-opening loss to West Memphis, Ark., the day prior, Charleston watched a five-point fourth quarter lead slip away as the Chargers came from behind for a 71-62 win. “We expected that from everything we lost from last year,” Bluejay head coach Danny Farmer said of his team’s early struggles. “We lost all our rebounding and scoring. We have to figure out what to do. We just need to play a bunch of games and get better.” It was a rough two-minute stretch midway through the fourth quarter that allowed Covington (4-1) to steal momentum from Charleston. With his team trailing 54-49 at the midpoint of the quarter Ladarious Griggs hit a 3-pointer that sparked a dominant, game-defining 14-0 rally from the Chargers. Charleston (0-2) committed four turnovers in two minutes, allowing back-to-back Davonta Smith baskets to give Covington a 63-54 lead with 2:18 to play. “We get timid and stop doing what we should do to beat the press,” Farmer said. “That’s a part of not having a leader right now. All our leadership from last year graduated.” A pair of free throws extended the Covington lead to 10 points with a minute to play before the Bluejays made one last stand. A quick rally once again made it a two-possession game, 68-62, with 20 seconds remaining. Forced to foul, however, Charleston watched Charger Brandon Alston hit on one of two shots from the foul line. One final errant 3-point attempt from the Bluejays in the closing seconds effectively sealed the Covington win. “We didn’t come out and play until the last two minutes of the fourth,” Covington head coach Charles Mitchell said. “After we got behind they turned it up and played defense like they could. We made free throws. We did everything almost perfect there for 30 seconds, because (Charleston) couldn’t even get the ball across the court.” The Chargers controlled the game for the first two-and-a-half quarters. After taking the lead in the opening minute of the contest, they held it until the Bluejay’s seized momentum midway through the third. Trailing 38-35 with under four minutes to play in the third, the Bluejays went on an 11-3 run that gave them a game-high five-point advantage. They maintained their five-point edge until Covington’s 14-0 run in the final minutes of the fourth put the Chargers ahead for good. TyJuan Smith led Covington with 19 points, followed by Ladarious Griggs 13-point effort. Travontae Powell and Brandon Alston scored 12 points each. Blessin Kimble’s 17 point effort paced the Bluejays. Kimble shot 7 of 10 from the field and contributed a team-high 15 rebounds. Evontrez Hill and Sam Bledsoe scored 12 points each while Latrell Porter was the fourth Bluejay in double-digits with 10 points. Porter led the team in assists with five while grabbing three rebounds and a pair of steals. Hill also added three steals and a couple of assists to his team’s cause. “We did some good things and scored better tonight (than Friday),” Farmer said. “Last night we only had one double-figure scorer against West Memphis. We played two real good athletic teams, so it’s good.” Charleston 9 17 20 16 – 62 Covington 15 14 14 28 – 71 CHARLESTON (62) – Evontrez Hill 12, Terridean Bogan 4, Sam Bledsoe 12, Preston Moore 7, Latrell Porter 10, Blessin Kimble 17. FG 21, FT 14-17, F 20. (3-pointers: Hill 2, Bledsoe 2, Moore 1, Porter 1. Fouled out: Porter.) COVINGTON (71) – Devin Dean 1, Travontae Powell 12, TyJuan Smith 19, Ladarious Griggs 13, Malik Coffey 6, Brandon Alston 12, Davonta Smith 8. FG 29, FT 9-16, F 19. (3-pointers: Griggs 2, Coffey 2. Fouled out: Coffey.) West Memphis 65, NMCC 49 NEW MADRID, Mo – A rough second quarter proved too much for New Madrid County Central Saturday afternoon against undefeated West Memphis on the final day of the Riverbend Shootout. A run of 16-straight points in the quarter gave the Blue Devils a double-digit lead they never relinquished en route to a 65-49 win. “I knew it was going to be a tough game,” Eagle head coach Lennies McFerren said. “They are a good ball club. We have a lot of work to do, and now they can see what we’ve been talking about. “It’s a lot harder to see something if you don’t experience it and now they’ve experienced what we’ve been trying to get them to focus on and do.” NMCC (1-1) hung tight with West Memphis (4-0) through a low-scoring first quarter and trailed by a point, 10-9, with six minutes left in the half. A basket by Chris Moore soon after started the Blue Devils run of 16-unanswered points. The Eagles turned the ball over on four straight possessions early on in the run and with 1:25 left in the half found themselves trailing 26-9. “It broke the game open,” West Memphis head coach Marcus Brown said of the run. “We started going to our defense to try and get some life into the kids — this a good test for us. We love coming up here. It’s a great tournament.” NMCC was never able to cut their deficit back into the single-digits and trailed by 13 points, 48-35, with 5:11 left in the game. Three straight Blue Devil buckets followed to pull back out by 20 points on their way their second win as many days. Moore scored a team-high 16 points to lead the Blue Devils with Cavin Paige and Immanuel Hoard adding 13 points each to the cause. Christen Phillips game-high 17 points led the Eagles. Thailin Marsh and Johnnie Walker finished with 10 points each. “A lot of that is they underestimated the quickness and athleticism of (West Memphis),” McFerren said of the Blue Devils big second quarter. “Now they realize they have to step it up a notch to get what we want to get out of this season. If we can learn from this, we’ll be all right. “It’ll be a lot better practices coming up now getting ready for this upcoming week. I think we’ll be more prepared than we were before this game.” NMCC 5 8 18 18 – 49 West Memphis 10 18 16 21 – 65 NMCC (49) – Thailin Marsh 10, Johnnie Walker 10, Christen Phillips 17, Kevon Williams 6. FG 19, FT 10-17, F 10. (3-pointers: Phillips 1. Fouled out: none.) WEST MEMPHIS (65) – Terry Burgess 5, Chris Moore 16, Courtney Hill 1, Immanuel Hoard 13, Cavin Paige 13, Corliss Brewer 6, Akarahn Hazley 4, Xavier Warren 6, Daveon Dolittle 3. FG 29, FT 8-17, F 19. (3-pointers: Paige 1. Fouled out: none.)