
ARCANUM – The Arcanum Trojans struggled in second-half play, dropping a Saturday night 51-35 non-conference varsity boys basketball to the visiting New Bremen Cardinals.
“New Bremen has a good team, and they play in a tough conference and have tough kids,” said Arcanum coach Kevin Brackman. “We challenged our guys, and the key was toughness.”
Arcanum jumped out to a 6-1 lead, taking advantage of two Matthew McCans 3-pointers, with New Bremen closing out the period on a 6-2 run for an 8-7 Trojans lead after one complete.

Arcanum’s solid defense kept the Trojans in period No. 2, with the Cardinals taking the quarter 11-7, sending the game to the halftime break with the visitors holding a slim 18-15 lead in the defensive battle.
Defense continued to dominate play in the third quarter, with New Bremen adding 13 points to the board while Arcanum added nine points paced by seven Landon Flatter points, including a 3-pointer and 4-4 at the charity stripe, giving the Cardinals a 31-24 lead with one quarter to play.

Arcanum closed within three at 33-30 before New Bremen’s game-long zone defense took its toll in the fourth as the Trojans had to play catch-up ball, and with the lead in hand, the Cardinals took advantage of the fourth-quarter free-throw line going 8-for-8 outscoring the Trojans 20-11 to secure the win.
“It was a 33-30 game and a three and two and-ones, and the game goes to nine, and when a team like that plays zone and we’re only scoring 30, it’s hard to make up nine in one quarter,” Brackman stated. “They love that zone, and they extend the zone.”

“That was a look we hadn’t seen much, so it slowed us down a bit at times,” Brackman added, “and we didn’t shoot the ball incredibly well tonight.”
Jaylen Powell led New Bremen and all scorers with a game-high 20 points, including 6-6 at the free throw line. Landon Flatter paced Arcanum with 13 points, including a perfect 10-for-10 at the charity stripe.

“I told the official free throw shooting has been a key all year long for us,” Coach Brackman said. “We are first in the league in made free throws, and we’re first in the league in attempted free throws, but we are tenth in the league in percentage, so we’re getting to the line. We shoot free throws every day, but it’s one of those things we’re getting better at, so for Landon to go 10-for-10 is just another weapon, another place he can score from.”
BOXSCORE:
NEW BREMEN 51, ARCANUM 35
NEW BREMEN – J. Powell 20, G. Quellhorst 14, Gavin Dicke 9, R. Busse 6, Grant Dicke 2 – TOTAL
ARCANUM – L. Flatter 13, C. Ball 11, M. McCans 6, C. Weiss 5 – TOTALS 5 13-22 4 35
3-POINTERS
New Bremen 2 (G. Quellhorst 1, Gavin Dicke 1)
Arcanum 4 (M. McCans 2, L. Flatter 1, C. Weiss 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
07-11-13-20 51 New Bremen
08-07-09-11 35 Arcanum