ARCANUM – The Arcanum Trojans defeated the visiting Brookville Blue Devils 60-55 in non-conference Saturday night varsity boys basketball action with three Arcanum players in double figures, one with 9-points and eight Trojans getting in the scoring column.
“That is something we’ve been looking for,” Arcanum coach, Roger McEldowney said of his team’s balanced scoring. “We’ve been getting two and when you can get three or four it makes the game a lot easier. Those guys did a great job of stepping up. Brady (Lock) really handled their pressure, he’s quick and made some really good finishes.”
Arcanum took a 17-13 lead after one period of play with Bryson Sharp canning three treys good for 9-points, a Brady Lock triple and 2-point bucket and Aiden Psczulkoski, Nick Sharritts and Caden Thompson each adding a basket.
Period No. 2 proved to be the defensive quarter of the night for both teams with Arcanum three better at 9-6 to lead 26-19 at the break. Arcanum’s 6’5” senior, Nick Sharritts spent a good amount of time on the first half bench with 6’1” Caden Thompson getting valuable playing time in his place.
“Caden plays really hard and he gave us a shot in the arm,” McEldowney said. “Nick’s foot was bothering him a little bit tonight so we tried to spell him a little bit. I think it was good for everybody because Caden came in and played great and gave us a shot in the arm and that’s just what we needed.”
Third quarter play had Arcanum putting 19-points on the board while the visitors were good for 16-points giving the Trojans a double digit 45-35 advantage with one period to play. Sharritts hit three consecutive baskets before closing out the quarter with 8-points to pace Arcanum in the third.
Arcanum was sporting a 58-44 lead at the 1:19 mark in the fourth before the Blue Devils would battle back with a late 11-2 run to make it a 5-point Trojans win. Arcanum went 8-13 at the fourth quarter charity stripe including 4-4 from Sharp and 2-2 from Etherington.
“They (Brookville) never gave up,” McEldowney stated. “Coach Davidson does a great job with those kids, had them playing hard. We didn’t take care of the ball down the stretch like we needed to but we got enough free throws down to finish it off – so proud of our kids.”
Brookville came into the night with a 57-points per game average led by Jason Wood’s 19-points per game. Arcanum held Wood to 5-points and the Blue Devils 7-points under their average.
“We played a little different defense than we normally do,” said McEldowney. “The guys did a nice job executing the game plan and they knew where he (Wood) was. We have a little bit a length with some of those guys out there and I think we made it kind of tough on them.”
“They all played well,” Coach McEldowney concluded. “We played almost every player on our bench in the first half and everybody did something positive when they came into the game.”
BOXSCORE:
ARCANUM 60, BROOKVILLE 55
ARCANUM – B. Sharp 13, N. Sharritts 12, B. Lock 11, R. Christ 9, A. Psczulkoski 4, B. Etherington 4, C. Thompson 4, N. Kessler 3 – TOTALS 16 10-18 6 60
BROOKVILLE – C. Crabtree 14, B. Fisher 12, D. King 9, B. Smart 5, K. Mehr 5, J. Wood 5, J. Jennings 5 – TOTALS 15 10-13 5 55
3-POINTERS
Arcanum 6 (B. Sharp 3, R. Christ 3)
Brookville 5 (B. Fisher 2, D. King 1, C. Crabtree 1, J. Jennings 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
17-09-19-15 60 Arcanum
13-06-16-20 55 Brookville
