By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

VANDALIA — The 11th seed Versailles boys basketball pulled away in the second half to get a 52-40 win over 14th seed Arcanum in the OHSAA Division III Boys Basketball Southwest Sectional on Feb. 27 at Butler High School.

With both teams not playing since Feb. 16, it took awhile for both teams to get going. Versailles head coach Travis Swank said both teams had to shake off the rust and try to execute their gameplans to the best of their abilities.

“Just having a long lay off, had to knock off the rust. Arcanum was in the same boat as us with rust. We figured they were going to come out in zone. Executed it all week and then didn’t really execute out here. We got to figure out a way to do that a little bit better. But, we’re still playing. That’s the most important thing,” Swank said.

A big wrench thrown in both team’s plans was the absence of Arcanum sophomore and leading scorer Regan Christ. Christ averages 15.9 points a game and was named to the All-WOAC First Team.

Arcanum head coach Kevin Brackman said while he had players step up in his absence, losing Christ for the game due to an illness hurt them.

“All year long, we’ve kind of gone as he’s gone. Really not just tonight, even last year as a freshman in Coach McEldowney’s offense, the ball was in his hand’s a lot. He’s a perimeter threat. He’s our inside threat. Not having him tonight is definitely a big miss on our part,” Brackman said.

Swank said with finding out Christ is out on game day, they had to change somethings around after having to gameplan for him.

Versailles held a slim 20-17 lead at halftime. Both teams sat in a zone and didn’t give up much room to the opposing offense.

For Arcanum, this was new to them this season. Brackman said they put an emphasis on packing in the zone against Versailles and trusted that it would work out for them.

“For us to come out and to execute that defense is something we have not done all year. We’ve never sat in a 2-3. We gave ourselves a little life. We gave ourselves hope and we hung around just like we wanted to,” Brackman said. “We really didn’t know how this was going to go, but we trusted our system and trusted our guys.”

Rebounding helped Versailles not only hold the lead at halftime, but helped them get the win. Swank said they had the size advantage and was able to not only grab defensive rebounds, but also grab the offensive rebounds.

Senior Carson Heitkamp led the way rebounding. Like he has all season long, Heitkamp cleaned the glass on both ends of the floor. His teammates also helped out and were around the rim when a shot went up.

Swank said this gym isn’t a shooter friendly gym. They had to be prepared for many second chance opportunities.

“There’s going to be some long rebounds, there’s going to be a lot of missed shots. You got to have guys to go get it. I thought we did that for the most part. Got some easy second chance points,” Swank said.

In the third quarter, Versailles was doing enough to extend their lead. Swank said the offensive rebounding helped them generate offense when they couldn’t get much going.

Brackman said they felt confident at halftime despite the rebounding difference. The Trojans were still playing well and were getting quality shots. They just couldn’t get them to fall in.

The second half was the Drake Ahrens show. The sophomore had one point in the first half. Swank said after Ahrens was challenged by the coaching staff, and even by himself, he rose to the occasion and played a great second half.

“We challenged him at halftime. Drake has high expectations for himself and so does the coaching staff. He probably knew he wasn’t playing his best. We challenged him and I think he challenges himself,” Swank said.

Brackman said they emphasized not opening up the top of the zone against Ahrens and letting him have any space to make passes or get into the lane. They lost track of Ahrens in the second half, especially in the pocket window between the five and three minute mark.

Ahrens scored 16 points in the second half with 11 points coming in the fourth quarter. Everything was starting to go Versailles way.

In the fourth quarter, Versailles started to kill the clock and shorten the game. They didn’t leave much of an opportunity for the Trojans to make a comeback.

Arcanum still gave it all they had and fought until the end. They made some buckets to stay close to Versailles, but couldn’t string together a run.

Senior Brady Lock led Arcanum with 18 points in his final game for the Trojans. Brackman said the seven seniors on the roster set the example for the younger players and laid the foundation for the future.

The future of Arcanum basketball is an exciting future. It all started with how this group of seniors led.

“We graduated seven guys last year and we graduate seven guys this year. They stepped into their roles and won 13 good basketball games. In our program, as a first year head coach, they set the foundation for what our future is. We’re excited about our future,” Brackman said. “We were 37-1 between our freshmen and JV teams. We’re excited about that. What those seniors brought to the table everyday to make those young guys better shouldn’t go unnoticed.”

Arcanum finishes this season with a 13-10 record and a 7-4 WOAC record.

For Versailles, Ahrens led with 17 points. Heitkamp had 13 points and junior Jace Watren had 11 points.

The Tigers will next play on March 2 back at Butler going up against two seed Indian Lake. Versailles did defeat Indian Lake on Feb. 13, 69-59.

But during that time, the brackets were already set and both teams didn’t show a lot to each other. Swank said Indian Lake has some dynamic scorers and players that thrive in their roles. He doesn’t expect the game to be like their regular season game.

Tip off is set for 5:30 p.m.

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