ARCANUM – The Arcanum Trojans defeated the visiting Twin Valley South Panthers 42-19 in Cross County Conference action in the Trojans first game of the season.
“It feels good anytime you get a win especially the first time out,” said Arcanum coach, Roger McEldowney. “You never know what you are going to get but the kids played real hard defensively and we rebounded ok for the most part. We played pretty well as a team.”
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead at 4:02 with both teams struggling to find the basket in the opening period. Cameron Burke knocked down a jumper with 3:47 to give Arcanum a 2-1 advantage only to have South take a 3-2 lead with 3:07 showing on the first quarter clock.
Jake Goubeaux drilled a jumper at 1:49 to give the Trojans a 4-3 advantage; a lead that would hold up until the final buzzer of the night. Arcanum closed out first quarter play with a Logan Todd basket giving the Trojans a 6-3 lead.
“I didn’t know if we were going to make any shots,” McEldowny said with a chuckle. “We came out and finally made a couple – got us a cushion and everybody relaxed.”
Period No. 2 went to Arcanum 11-4 sending the teams to the break with the Trojans holding a double digit 17-7 advantage.
Arcanum owned the third quarter, outscoring the visitor 17-4 with six Trojans getting in the scoring column for a 34-11 lead after three complete.
“We’re still young, we only have two seniors,” Coach McEldowney noted. “Last year we weren’t always as balanced as I would have liked because we were playing a lot of young kids, but they have grown up a little bit. We have a lot guys that can put the ball in the basket. We try to be a little bit more patient and really get a good look.”
The team’s played even on the fourth quarter board with the entire Arcanum team seeing playing time on the court.
“Great team effort,” stated McEldowney. “We’re trying to play more guys. We never know when the season is going to end or guys will be quarantined so we are trying to get as many guys ready as possible just in case those things happen.”
“We talked in practice the other day and said, ‘we have to play each one like it’s your last because you really don’t know,” Coach McEldowney added.’”
Todd led Arcanum and all scorers with a game high 12 points.
BOXSCORE:
ARCANUM 42, TWIN VALLEY SOUTH 19
ARCANUM – L. Todd 12, J. Goubeaux 9, I. Baker 7, C. Burke 4, C. Pitzer 3, D. Albright 3, G. Garno 2, C. Werling 2 – TOTALS 13 4-7 4 42
TWIN VALLEY SOUTH – B. Marker 7, T. Wright 4, L. Sievering 4, J. Thuma 2, L. Gearhart 1, C. Bishop 1 – TOTALS 7 5-17 0 19
3-POINTERS
Arcanum 4 (J. Goubeaux 1, L. Todd 1, C. Pitzer 1, D. Albright 1)
Twin Valley South 0
SCORE by QUARTERS:
06-11-17-08 42 Arcanum
03-04-04-08 19 Twin Valley South
