PITSBURG – Arcanum made just enough plays and got 21 points from Carter Gray to win the consolation game in the 56th Annual Jet Holiday Tournament by the score of 53-46 over Mississinawa Valley on Saturday.
Gray had the hot hand with 8 points to help the Trojans stake an early 12-5 lead with 3:35 to go in the first quarter.
Mississinawa Valley fought back on a couple triples, one from Max Guillozet and another from Max Dirmeyer, but they trailed 16-11 at the end of the quarter.
Shots weren’t falling for the Blackhawks as they scored just 7 points in the second period and Arcanum took a 28-18 lead at the half.
Arcanum got good inside play from post players Zach Smith scoring 4 and Lane Byrne 3 points in the period.
Arcanum’s lead grew to 35-24, the largest of the game with 3:27 to play, before Mississinawa caught fire. It started with a reverse lay-up from Will Hall and then a steal from Max Dirmeyer for a lay-up and a quick 4 points.
The ‘Hawks made 4 of 9 three pointers in the game in the quarter including back-to-back triples form Blake Scholl that had the margin down to a single point 35-34 with 54 seconds to go.
A Wade Meeks fielder broke a 3-minute drought and brought the third quarter to a close with Arcanum leading 37-34.
On a set play Meeks dribbled away from the corner toward the wing, then used a reverse, dribbled back to the baseline and threw a pass from out-of-bounds to Gray in the opposite corner and the junior sharp shooter drained the triple to give the Trojans breathing room 40-34 to start the final stanza.
The Blackhawks though didn’t go down without a fight and with the game at 45-41, Dirmeyer went in for a lay-up that was good and a possible three-point play, but instead it was a charge taking away the basket.
The ‘Hawks were just never able to get over the hump after that as Arcanum showed patience running clock and drawing numerous fouls, they would go to the free throw line 15 times making 10 of them and went on to the 53-46 win.
Defensively, Arcanum was able to use its size inside to slow down Mississinawa leading scorer DJ Howell holding him to just 3 points in the game.
Dirmeyer led MV with 12 points and Blake Scholl had 11. Mississinawa falls to 3-5 overall and will host Newton on Jan. 4.
Gray had a total of 32 points in the Jet Tourney and was named to the All-Tournament Team. The Trojans improve to 5-4 overall and will play at Bethel on Jan. 4.
Score by quarters:
Arcanum^16^12^9^16^–^53
Mississinawa^11^7^16^12^–^46
Individual Scoring:
Mississinawa – Max Dirmeyer 12, Will Hall 4, Trent Collins 4, Alex Scholl 3, Kyler Guillozet 6, Josh Fett 3, Blake Scholl 11, DJ Howell 3. Totals: 9-9-1/6 – 46.
Arcanum – Carter Gray 21, Cory Ross 3, Wade Meeks 5, Evan Atchley 5, Jake Goubeaux 8, Zach Smith 6, Lane Byrne 5. Totals 6-11-13/20 – 53.
Three Pointers:
Arcanum 6 (Gray 5, Goubeaux 1)
Mississinawa 9 (B. Scholl 3, Dirmeyer 2, Guillozet 2, A. Scholl 1, Fett 1)
