
COVINGTON – The Arcanum Trojans defeated the Bradford Railroaders 54-30 in the Covington Holiday Basketball Tournament consolation game following a heartbreaking opening round 59-55 loss to the Houston Wildcats.
“This was an us game,” said Arcanum coach Kevin Brackman. “How we were going to rally, how we were going to come back, and it came down to guarding the ball and playing sound defense.”

Arcanum used four first-quarter 3-pointers, two by Landon Flatter and one each from Matthew McCans and Charlie Weiss to take a 16-7 lead after one period of play.
“For them to come out in a zone and us to shoot the ball incredibly well, we were able to separate, which gave us confidence,” Brackman stated. “Flatter was able to hit some shots, McCans hit some shots, Graham Brubaker hit some shots, Charlie Weiss hit some shots.”

“When everyone is hitting shots, and we’re shutting them down defensively, and not opening the floor and just working on us, we limited their second chance opportunities because of how poorly we defended the glass last night,” Brackman added.
The Trojans took the second quarter 17-12, sending the teams to the break with Arcanum leading 33-19. Flatter paced the Trojans with seven points, including his third trey of the game. Bradford senior Owen Canan drilled his second three of the night to lead the Roaders with five second-quarter points.

Arcanum took advantage of eight Flatter third-quarter points to put the game away with a double-digit 15-5 quarter for a 48-24 lead with one quarter to play.
“For us to score and then get stops and value the ball, that was huge,” said Coach Brackman. “It was a big defensive effort for us.”

With Coach Brackman going to his bench in the fourth, the teams played to a 6-6 score, giving the Trojans the non-conference tournament win.
Flatter led Arcanum and all scorers with a game-high 23 points.
BOXSCORE:
ARCANUM 54, BRADFORD 30
ARCANUM – L. Flatter 23, M. McCans 10, C. Weiss 8, G. Brubaker 3, B. Cartwright 2, G. Garno 2, C. Kessler 2, C. Ball 2, C. Etherington 2 – TOTALS 12 6-6 8 54
BRADFORD – O. Canan 12, R. Wirrig 6, G. Chowning 4, Z. Harleman 4, C. Jones 2 – TOTALS 9 3-6 3 30
3-POINTERS
Arcanum 8 (L. Flatter 3, M. McCans 2, C. Weiss 2, G. Brubaker 1)
Bradford 5 (O. Canan 2, G. Chowning 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
16-17-15-06 54 Arcanum
07-12-05-06 30 Bradford