ARCANUM — The Arcanum boys basketball team set the tone early by showing patience on offense and discipline on defense something they maintained all game long resulting in a 52-37 Cross County Conference win over defending champions National Trail.
National Trail was returning the CCC player of the year junior Cameron Harrison along with a cast of others … but the Trojan were up to the challenge and kept Harrison in check holding him to just 5 points heading into the 4th period. He would end the game with 11 points and was the only Blazer to score in double figure which wasn’t near enough on this night.
Arcanum was equally as good on offense and shared the ball well, a trio of players scored in double figures on the night, they were Logan Todd and Jake Goubeaux with 11 points each and Ian Baker had 10.
The Trojans jumped on top 6-0 lead on a basket by Cameron Burke and two fielders from Todd, prompting National Trail to call a timeout at the 5:30 mark.
The Blazers finally got on the board on a Harrison short jumper at the two minute mark … but Arcanum added two more scores by Goubeaux and Baker to take a 10-2 first quarter lead.
Nick Sharritts started the 2nd quarter with a bucket as Arcanum jumped ahead 16-4 before the Blazers ramped up the pressure and went on a run, and by the two minute mark they closed the gap to 18-12.
But the Trojans maintained composure and finished the quarter strong to take a 22-14 lead into the locker room.
In basketball the team who usually wins the game is the one who gets the easier scores and Arcanum showed just how to do that as they worked their continuity offense to perfection scoring lay-ups to win the 3rd quarter 14-9 and take a 36-23 lead.
In the final stanza the Trailblazers couldn’t find a way to close the gap, every time they gambled on defense Arcanum made them pay including back-to-back lay-ups by Chad Pitzer.
Then when Jake Goubeaux scored on a lay-up at 3:50 of the 4th quarter the lead had swelled to 17-points, the largest of the game.
The Trojans took care of the basketball the remainder of the way to earn a 52-37 victory stunning the defending CCC Champs.
Arcanum turned in a solid game on defense and kept Cameron Harrison in check, something Arcanum boys basketball coach Roger McEldowney acknowledged was no easy feat.
“They’re good (National Trail) and so is Harrison, you have to keep him in front of you because he facilitates for everybody else, you try to do that … but then they have some shooters out there too, so you have to clog the lane, and then get out there as fast as you can to close out on the other shooters.” McEldowney stated.
The Trojans offense was also pretty effective on the night and McEldowney has a simple philosophy for that.
“We just want to focus on ourselves,” McEldowney said.
“We’re just trying to get better each and every time out. We try to play against ourselves every game, eliminate as many mistakes as we can and execute our stuff as well as we can. If we do that the score will take care of itself,” McEldowney concluded.
On this night it worked as planned as Arcanum had 8 players score in the game. The Trojans improve to 3-1 on the season and will travel to Miami East on Friday for another CCC contest.
Box Scores:
Score by Quarters:
NT 02 … 12 … 09 … 14 – 37
AR 10 … 12 … 14 … 16 – 52
Team Scoring:
NT – House 8, Harrison 11, Ray 2, Leal 3, Carter 1, Stewart 3, Weatherington 9;
Totals 4-8-9/16 – 37
ARC – Goubeaux 11, Etherington 2, Garno 4, Todd 11, Pitzer 4, Burke 6, Baker 11, Sharritts 4;
Totals 1-23-3/6 – 52
