ARCANUM – The Arcanum Trojans defeated the visiting Middletown Maddison Mohawks 51-48 in Saturday night non-conference action on the heals of a large Friday night loss to one of the state’s best teams in the Preble Shawnee Arrows.
“It speaks volumes of our guys,” said Arcanum coach, Kevin Brackman. “We have some gamers, we have guys that step up when they need to step up. Last night was over and done with because we are a good team, we’re going to win games.”
The Trojans won three of the four quarters played but had to battle back from a one-point deficit after three-quarters of play to earn the win over a similar style team.
Arcanum took the opening quarter 13-10 led by five Regan Christ points including a 3-pointer and Caleb Burke’s four points.
The Trojans outscored the Mohawks 16-11 in period No. 2 with Christ canning three treys sending the teams to the break with Arcanum up 29-21.
Arcanum’s eight-point lead quickly evaporated to open third-quarter play with Madison knotting the score at 31-31 with 5:20 on the clock. The Mohawks took a 33-31 lead with 4:34 on the board bringing a timeout from the Arcanum bench before the quarter came to an end with the visitors holding a slim 38-37 advantage.
“I had the opportunity to take a timeout three or four times when it was 26-31, 28-31, 30-31, and when it got to 33-31.” Brackman shared. “I finally took one but I felt like it was the first time all year where we were in a situation where our guys could show the staff, our fans, their parents what kind of players they’re going to be this year.”
“When I took one at 33-31 we talked about what we were trying to do and we were able to get through it,” Brackman continued. “We came down and we broke it, we got some layups off of it and Rylan Murray stepped up huge there in transition late – things clicked. Just the way we weathered the storm when they picked us up full-court.”
The Trojans took a 39-38 lead at 7:31 to start fourth-quarter play and quickly extended its lead to eight, 45-38 at 4:56 only to have the Middletown school battle back to make it a one-point game and trail Arcanum 47-46 with 3:07 on the fourth quarter board.
Arcanum turned it up a notch at both ends of the court to grab a 51-46 lead with 14 seconds remaining bringing a timeout on the court. Madison would get one final score with time running out giving the Arcanum Trojans a hard-fought three-point win.
“The way we battled when things got hard – Madison is a great team, they are long, they are athletic, they have great shooters, they are a lot like us,” said Brackman. “The Pendleton kid is a brute down low and when he stepped out and hit a shot from the perimeter early we knew that we were in for a treat. He plays inside out so well and Whisman and Combs and those guys so we knew coming in this was going to be a tough one to get but we would feel pretty good if we were able to steal it.”
First-year Arcanum head coach Kevin Brackman and his team garnered much experience in getting his third career varsity win.
“I think I was screaming more than I have and there were so many learning moments especially late in the game,” Coach Bracknam stated. “Those are fun games to walk away from and be on the winning side.”
Regan Christ led Arcanum and all scorers with a game-high 18 points. Arcanum improves to 3-2 on the season while Madison drops to 2-3.
BOXSCORE:
ARCANUM 51, MIDDLETOWN MADISON 48
ARCANUM – R. Christ 18, R. Murray 10, B. Lock 8, C. Burke 8, L. Flatter 2, M. McCans 2, C. Weiss 1 – TOTALS 17 5-8 4 51
MIDDLETOWN MADISON – J. Pendleton 15, G. Combs 12, A. Grooms 9, Z. Sproat 7, D. Whisman 5 – TOTALS 13 4-6 6 48
3-POINTERS
Arcanum 4 (R. Christ 4)
Middletown Madison 6 (G. Combs 3, J. Pendleton 1, Z. Sproat 1, D. Whisman 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
13-16-08-14 51 Arcanum
10-11-17-10 48 Middletown Madison
