Dale lifts Eagles to first victory

Maybe Covenant junior Sam Dale should have an off night more often.

After struggling against Heritage the day before, Dale erupted for 28 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Eagles (1-6) to their first win of the season in a 72-67 victory over Culpeper in the seventh-place game of The Daily Progress NBC29 Holiday Classic at Albemarle High.

Dale went 0 for 5 from the free throw line in the game against Heritage. Against Culpeper, Dale simply couldn’t miss, going a perfect 14 of 14 — including 7 of 7 in the fourth quarter — to help Covenant get a much-needed victory.

“It’s great to have our first win. I’m really excited about that. We’ve had a slow start this year and it’s been a little frustrating but I’m glad we snuck out with this win,” said Dale, who shot a paltry 9 of 23 from the charity stripe in his previous two games.

Just as important as his work on the offensive end was the job Dale did on the boards. The 6-foot-2 junior pulled down 16 rebounds and started three fourth-quarter fast breaks with long outlet passes that resulted in layups on the other end for the Eagles.

“Sam has the ability to dominate a game defensively, on the backboards, even offensively and you saw that there for stretches. It’s just a matter of him deciding to do it,” said Covenant coach Ben D’Alessandro.

After failing to knock down a field goal during the first four minutes of the game and falling behind 11-1, Culpeper (0-10) clawed its way back into the contest and trailed by only two at halftime. Point guard Josh Majors was able to penetrate and either score or find an open teammate to keep the Blue Devils close.

“We kind of came out lethargic there in the first quarter but then we got the tempo up, got some good looks, some easy baskets,” said Culpeper coach J.T. Thompson.

But in the end, Dale proved to be too much for the Devils to handle.

“He made his free throws, he made the right passes and he made the layups,” Thompson said.

Covenant got 17 points from Kodie Critzer and 12 from Chris Lower. Culpeper had four players reach double figures with Majors leading the way with 16 points. Bobby Zajkowski and Larry Ralph both scored 13 points while Cortez Rollins added 11 for the Blue Devils.