Arcanum Gets WOAC road win over Mississinawa Valley.

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Landon Flatter down the stretch was key for Arcanum in win over Mississinawa Valley.  (Dale Barger photo)

UNION CITY – The Arcanum boys basketball team hit back-to-back treys in the 3rd quarter to shake off a run by Mississinawa and then went on to claim a 51-41 WOAC road win over the Blackhawks.

Offense was at a premium in the first half as the home team took an early 5-0 lead on a triple from Caden Hanes and drive for two from Cing Scott.

Defensively the Hawks were playing man-to-man and Arcanum showed patience early on running their offense through several times but came away empty until the 4:43 mark on a floater from Bishop Cartwright.

The Trojans scored again at 2:40 on a good feed to the block from Charlie Weiss to Cameron Ball.  Arcanum then stole the ball on the inbounds and took the lead on an and one from Cole Kessler 7-5 and extended it to 10-5 on a triple by Weiss at the two-minute mark.

Charlie Weiss throws bounce pass into the post for an assist in the game. (Dale Barger photo)

Mississinawa closed the game to 10-9  with fielders from Carson Hamilton and Ashton Amspaugh … but the Trojans added one more score from Bishop Cartwright for a 12-9 1st quarter advantage.

The pace of play was even slower in the 2nd quarter as Mississinawa’s Scott connected on a mid-range shot, followed by a baseline jumper from Hanes, tied the game with just under four minutes to go in the 2nd quarter.

Cing Scott generated most of the offense for the Hawks in the 1st half. (Dale Barger photo)

Arcanum made a small run to extend the lead to 19-13 and 22-16 at the break.

Arcanum coach Kevin Brackman gave credit to Mississinawa Valley and their defense for not allowing a good flow to get established in the first half.

“We discussed the lack of flow at half time, McCann’s and Flatter weren’t really scoring to . start, and I think that was in part due to Miss Valley, who is extremely well-coached. Every time we would try to execute something, their kids knew what we were doing and kind of got us out of rhythm,” Brackman explained.

Mississinawa Valley coach Jeff Vaughn was concerned coming in about defending against the Trojans action and was pleased with his team’s effort in the 1st half.

“I was concerned coming into this, because they have a lot of action with back screens and ball screens … but  I thought our kids did a nice job, and I thought they would take a lot of time off the clock, I mean, first quarter they didn’t score for the first probably four minutes,” Vaughn stated.

So, with the game tied at 13 in the 2nd quarter, Arcanum coach Brackman threw in a defensive wrinkle by going to a half-court trap that helped them regain the lead at the break.

“When they’re kind of controlling the flow on one end, then we have to change things to try and control the flow on both ends and counteract that by letting our defense create offense, and we were able to kind of throw that trap out to get some stops, which led to a little momentum. And in a game like this, two or three stops can make a big difference,” Brackman said.

Ashton Amspaugh scores inside off an offensive rebound. (Dale Barger photo)

The Blackhawks weren’t going away and battled in the 3rd quarter, scoring 12 points garden variety from Hanes, Jaxin Beanblossom, Ashton Amspaugh, Scott, and Connor Hardy, deadlocking with the Trojans, who also scored 12 points in the period.

Arcanum found success pounding the ball into the paint, with Cameron Ball scoring 8 of the 12 Trojans points and a 34-28 lead going into the final frame.

Cameron Ball did work in the 3rd quarter scoring 8 points to get the Trojans going. (Dale Barger photo)

“We were able to get camera ball going in the 3rd quarter, and anytime he’s going downhill and able to get touches around the rim, it’s always a good thing for us,” Brackman highlighted.

But the Blackhawks were hanging around and would make things interesting to start the 4th with a Scott 18’ footer and a triple from sophomore Jaxin Beanblossom. They had pulled to within a point 34-33.

Landon Flatter along with Matthew McCans threw consecutive daggers early in 4th quarter to take control of the game. (Dale Barger photo)

Up to this point in the game, Mississinawa had given up just one three-pointer, but it would be back-to-back triples from Landon Flatter and Matthew McCans halting MV’s run to surge back in front 40-33 at the 6:30 mark.

“I thought our kids played hard and we did a lot of good things, but that was a big turning point in the game when they hit back-to-back threes in each corner and now up seven to give them a little cushion,” Vaughn would say after the game.

Now, with a three-possession lead, Arcanum would turn to their senior leader, Landon Flatter, who would step up down the stretch. He scored 10 of his 16 points in the final frame as Brackman looked to put him in a position to close it out.

“To be able to have him in our back pocket, and for him to play so many minutes and then just to call his number at the right time, I really think he’s one of the best in the conference getting to the rack and finishing and his looks were really valuable. Anytime late in the game that he’s gets valuable looks helps us,” Brackman praised.

Mississinawa was unable to get over the hump down the stretch as the Trojans closed out the game at the charity stripe and 51-41 WOAC win.

“It feels good to get a conference win; any night you can go on the road and get a conference win is great for our kids and our staff; that means a lot as far as the game goes,” Brackman commented.

The Blackhawks came up short, but coach Vaughn was pleased with the team’s effort who has played the last three games without 6-7 Ben Hamilton.

“I give my kids credit, defensively we were pretty good and gave up just three triples on the night to a pretty good shooting team,” Vaughn said.

He was also pleased with the spark provided by sophomore guard Jaxin Beanblossom.

Jaxin Beanblossom hangs in the air for two in the lane.  He scored 9 points in second half to give the Hawks a boost. (Dale Barger photo)

“I mean, Jackson came off the bench and gave us good minutes and led us in scoring in the second half with 9 points when we had a tough time getting going,” Vaughn added.

“I told the kids, don’t hang your heads; we got to get back to work and be ready to play Twin Valley South and hopefully get back on the winning side,” Vaughn concluded.

Box Score

Score by Quarter

Arcanum             12 … 10 … 12 … 17 – 51
Mississinawa      09 … 07 … 12 … 13 – 41

Team Scoring

Arcanum
Flatter 1-4-5/7 – 16, Cartwright 0-3-0/0 – 6, McCans 1-0-2/2 – 5,Brubaker 0-1-0/0 – 2,
Weiss 1-1-2/2 – 7, Kessler 1-0-1/3 – 3, Ball 0-4-3/5 – 11, Etherington 0-0-1/2 – 1,
Totals 3-7-14/21 – 51

Mississinawa ValleyHanes 1-3-0/0 – 9, Beanblossom 1-3-0/0 – 9, Amspaugh 0-2-0/0 – 4, Scott 0-4-1/2 – 9, Hardy 0-2-0/2 – 4, Grow 0-1-0/0 – 2, C. Hamilton 0-2-0/0 – 4, Totals 2-17-1/4 – 41

Mississinawa Cheerleaders in full support mode for the Blackhawks. (Dale Barger photo)