ARCANUM – Arcanum executed in the fourth quarter down the stretch to pull away from Dixie and record a 51-39 non-conference win and register its first double win weekend of the season.
After Carter Gray knocked down a short jumper to start the game, Dixie ran off 6 unanswered points to take an early 6-2 lead at 5:14.
Arcanum clamped down on the defensive end and held the Greyhounds scoreless the remainder of the first quarter.
Gray added a triple and Grant Delk scored 4 points inside along with 2 from Lane Byrne to give Arcanum an 11-6 lead.
Dixie found a way to penetrate the Trojans’ defense in the second quarter behind AJ Shockey scoring 6 points in the paint as Dixie gained the lead, 12-11.
Evan Atchley answered at 5:14 with a triple and the Trojans regained the lead at 14-12.
Neither team could put together a run until Wills Troutwine hit a trey to end the first half, giving the Trojans a 21-17 advantage.
The Trojans came out after the break and executed a perfect backdoor cut with Atchley finishing to go up 23-17 … but they just couldn’t shake the Greyhounds and led 35-30 at the end of the third quarter.
Arcanum scored 10 points in the third quarter 6 by big man Lane Byrne to try and soften the Dixie defense.
Each time Arcanum made a play, Dixie had an answer and trailed 36-32 at 5:14 in the fourth period as the Trojans struggled to get any separation.
After a timeout and leading 40-35, Arcanum took its first shot from the perimeter in the second half and Gray nailed it. Moments later, on a good kick from Delk, Atchley was good from beyond the circle and the Trojans finally created the separation they needed and led 46-35.
Arcanum then took care of the basketball and made free its throws down the stretch for the 51-39 win.
“We had to go to a plan ‘B’ and ‘C’ tonight. We adjusted and excelled at both, and that is huge for us,” Arcanum boys basketball coach Marcus Bixler said. “When you are moving guys around and juggling like that and have the ability to make an adjustment and see them be more aggressive like that, I was really pleased.
“It all started in the second half when we got that backdoor play, and we continued to attack the rim with most of our points coming in the paint or at the foul line,” Bixler said.
“I thought we were much better in the second half defensively where we took away some of their back-cuts and slips that we needed to do,” Bixler said.
“I know Saturday games can sometimes get sloppy, and tonight was a little sloppy. We went through the gauntlet on both ends of the floor … but we made the adjustments we needed and executed. For us to get a double-win weekend was huge, especially with a three-game week ahead of us,” Bixler concluded.
Arcanum was led by Atchley with 15 points, Gray had 14 and Byrne with 8 hard points in the paint.
The Trojans improved to 6-5 overall and will host Tri-Village Tuesday night.
Box score:
Score by quarters
DI ….06 … 11 … 13 … 09 – 39
AR … 11 … 10 … 14 … 17 – 51
Individual scoring
Dixie – Dakota Grise 1, Jared Crawford 2, AJ Shockey 8, Devin Worley 21, Preston Atkins 2, Dustin Petry 5; Totals 1-12-9/12 – 39
Arcanum – Carter Gray 14, Wills Troutwine 6, Evan Atchley 15, Lane Byrne 8, Zach Smith 2, Grant Delk 3; Totals 5-11-14/21 – 51
