By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

DARKE COUNTY — Here are the scores and stats from the high school basketball games from Jan. 29 – 31.

Boys basketball: Bradford 67 (9-7, 5-3) vs Arcanum 70 (10-8, 5-3)

Without seniors Brady Lock and Nathan Koller, the Trojans completed a fourth quarter comeback to get the conference road win. Arcanum head coach Kevin Brackman said the relationships everyone within the program has with each other helped lead to this win.

“We dug into our JV bench a little bit. Cole Kessler had to play big time minutes for us. I think it just speaks volumes to the commardary and the trust they have built,” Brackman said.

Momentum shifted throughout the whole game. Arcanum started the game on a 13-2 run before Bradford junior Dalton Branson drained four straight three pointers to give Bradford the lead.

After multiple lead changes, Bradford led 37-32 at halftime. Branson had made seven threes in the first half. Brackman said even though they were down, they still felt they were playing good basketball. They just had to tip their cap to Branson for the game he was having.

In the third quarter, Branson made his eighth three of the game. That make broke the school record for threes made in a game. Bradford coach Alex Swabb said it was great to see Branson break a record that has been around for a long time.

“Once he got on, he’s very hard to turn off. That’s exactly what happened tonight. Congrats to that kid for breaking that record. I know that one stood for a good long while,” Swabb said.

The runs continued as Bradford went from leading 52-45 entering the fourth quarter to it being tied 58-58 with about three minutes left. Bradford junior Owen Canan gave Bradford a 60-58 lead.

For the next two minutes, Arcanum could not get a bucket to go in to tie or take the lead. Canan scored a few more times to give Bradford a cushion.

Down 67-63, junior Landon Flatter made a layup and got the foul called. He completed the three-point play to be down one point. After not playing most of the first half with foul trouble, sophomore Regan Christ got the ball late in the fourth quarter.

With seconds left, Christ was fouled on a three-point attempt. He went 2 for 3 to go up 68-67. Later after Arcanum got two stops, he made two more free throws to give the Trojans a three-point lead with five seconds left.

Brackman said the combination of the work he put in and his ability to stay engaged in the game even when he was on the bench helped keep Christ calm in those late game situations.

“For him to sit and trust his teammates and still stay engaged in the game knowing that we needed him late. We were able to put him in opportunities, and hoping, to make plays. A lot of that stuff comes naturally,” Brackman said.

A lot of guys stepped up for Arcanum. Flatter, sophomore Matthew McCans and senior Braylen Etherington stepped up offensively. Brackman said even more guys stepped up to defend one of the WOAC’s best point guards in Canan, best shooters in senior Hudson Hill and rebounders in senior Landon Wills.

“We knew that Hudson Hill is one of the best shooters in the league. For us to come in and held him to eight points, that’s an accomplishment that goes unnoticed by Rylan Murray,” Brackman said. “He doesn’t score a lot, but he gets rebounds. He gets hustle plays. He’s on every team’s best player. His effort along with Caleb Burke and Luke Henniger for them to come in and guard Landon Wills, a guy that leads our conference in rebounds. We knew what were up against.”

The Railroaders just couldn’t close the door on Arcanum late. They did all they could to stay ahead. It just came down to a few plays where Bradford didn’t take care of the ball.

“It comes down to taking better care of the ball and playing better defense. Right now, we’re giving teams a lot more free points than we should. That’s on us, discipline and effort wise defensively. A lot of times, we do a lot of the right things. Then we let a couple mistakes here and there slip through,” Swabb said.

Christ led Arcanum with 22 points, 20 of them came in the second half. Flatter had 18 points and Murray had 10 points.

Branson finished with 24 points. Canan had 16 points and Wills had 15 points. Wills also had a double-double with 14 rebounds.

After a road game at Tri-Village, Bradford will host Northeastern on Feb. 3 at 7:15 p.m.

A full game recap can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com.

Girls basketball: Greenville 28 (5-15, 2-14) vs West Carrollton 49 (11-7, 10-5)

The Lady Wave started the week losing 60-27 at Tippecanoe on Jan. 29. Junior Avery Baumann led with 10 points in the game. In that game and in this one, the Lady Wave were once again without a full roster available.

Head coach Rachel Kerns said they have just had players in and out of the lineup all year long. A few times, they found out a player can’t play on game day.

“2024 hasn’t been very kind to us. I don’t know in the last eight games if we actually had our whole roster able to play. Got another message today, a girl who has played major minutes didn’t get to come. She wasn’t feeling very good,” Kerns said. “It’s just making it’s rounds. It’s really hard to adapt when we don’t get to practice the day before with who we’re actually going to have in the game.”

After a fast start by West Carrollton, Greenville started to settle in a little bit. But, the transition game for the Lady Pirates was too strong. Kerns said the athleticism of West Carrollton is hard to compete with for a whole game.

The Lady Pirates were up 38-13 at halftime. It was just turnovers hurting Greenville. Even a missed shot could lead to a transition opportunity for West Carrollton.

In the first half, Baumann led the scoring with eight points. Kerns said Baumann has done a great job bouncing back from her ACL surgery from last season and is playing like she thought she would.

“Her composure has been better. She’s shooting the ball a little bit better. I would love for her to be able to be our two-guard. But we just haven’t found that other person that can get us going in our offense. Really proud of how far Avery has come this season,” Kerns said.

In the second half, junior Brooke Schmidt led the scoring with nine points. Kerns said Schmidt is a difference maker down low with her defense and rebounding ability. She wants to see Schmidt attempt more shots and was happy to see Schmidt be more aggressive scoring in the second half.

The Lady Wave did hold the Lady Pirates scoreless in the fourth quarter. But, they couldn’t overcome the 30-point deficit from the third quarter.

Kerns said the team is just dealing with the reality of high school basketball. They play who they can play and see who deserves more minutes while some players learn why they might not be getting a lot of minutes.

The team will next play at Fairborn on Feb. 3 at 10:30 a.m.

A full game recap can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com.

Girls basketball:

Ansonia 43 (7-11, 3-6) vs Carlisle 31 (9-12, 3-8)

The Lady Tigers snapped a six-game losing streak with the home win over Carlisle. They held the Lady Indians scoreless in the second quarter on the way to the win. After a home game against National Trail, Ansonia will head to Parkway on Feb. 3 at noon.

Boys basketball:

Greenville 43 (3-16, 3-12) vs West Carrollton 69 (7-10, 7-7)

The Green Wave were down 32-22 at halftime and couldn’t make the second half comeback. The team did shoot 45.5% from the three-point line and held West Carrollton to 23.1% from three. Junior Drew Hamilton led with 13 points and senior Chace Drew had 10 points. After a game at Fairborn, Greenville’s next game won’t be until Feb. 9 as they host Piqua for their last home game of the regular season.

Mississinawa Valley 43 (1-16, 0-8) at Muncie Burris 62 (2-11, 0-3)

The Blackhawks dropped a midweek road game. They were down 28-14 at halftime and didn’t let the game get out of hand in the second half. After hosting Tri-County North, Mississinawa Valley will wait a week before they travel to Preble Shawnee on Feb. 9 for a 7:30 p.m. tip off.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]