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Arcanum sophomore Andrew Baker gets two of his six points Friday
against Bethel as 6-7 senior
Evan Hawthorn defends for Bethel. The
Trojans fell 55-52 in a hard fought CCC game.
CNO Photos by George
Starks
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Bethel escapes
with tight conference win over Arcanum
Last second shot misses its mark for Trojans
By George Starks
ARCANUM- It was the type of game most every basketball player dreams of.
They practice it in the back yards and at the playgrounds as kids.
Three…two…one and the shot is released.
SWOOSH!
For a brief moment in the mind, they hit that buzzer beater and are the
hero of the game.
In real life, it’s all real, except for the SWOOSH.
Such was the case Friday for Arcanum senior Austin Baker.
With 10.6 seconds left in the game and the Trojans trailing by three,
Arcanum coach Marcus Bixler screamed for time in hopes of setting up
the final play that would force overtime with Cross County Conference
foe, Bethel.
In a play that was originally designed for senior Cole Burrell, the
Bees had it scoped out and Arcanum was forced to go to its backup plan.
At the buzzer, Baker unloaded the game tying three but as fate would
have it, the ball would severely miss its mark as the buzzer sounded,
giving Bethel a 55-52 victory over Arcanum.
Arcanum held a 12-11 lead after one but went into the break with things
knotted up at 27-27.
Arcanum would hold a 40-39 lead after three despite going on a 10-0 run
to start the third with 5:17 left in the frame, up 37-27 at that point.
“Coming out of the break, we didn’t have to tell them anything when
they went on that run,” stated Bixler. “We knew what they were going to
do defensively and we had a pretty good plan. For us, Cole hit a couple
of three’s in the third quarter and that set the tone for us.”
It was a night when the Trojans scrapped for 32 minutes, never giving
up.
“This was a fight from the start and these kids never gave up,” said
Bixler. “They’ve done it in every game and they practice like this
every day. In terms of that, nothing’s changed. I thought we would play
well against them and I knew we would play them tough only because I
knew we could take some things away from them.”
Arcanum jumped out to the early 6-0 lead on the strength of Burrell’s
three point shooting.
Bigger than his shooting was the fact that Arcanum got two quick fouls
on 6-7 Bethel senior Evan Hawthorn, forcing him to the bench.
With their big man out of action, the Bees were forced to attack and
would go on a 10-1 spurt with 1:40 left in the quarter.
“We knew he liked to leave his feet a lot,” Bixler pointed out. “I
think three of his fouls were against three of our kids pump fakes. We
did what we needed to do to get him into foul trouble and get our kids
to the free throw line. Part of that 10-0 run was because of him on the
bench.”
Burrell led the Trojans with 22 points to lead all in scoring.
“He’s come a long way from a year ago,” admitted Bixler. “He’s gotten
this way because he’s been invested in and worked hard to be the
shooter that he is. He’s stepped up to be a leader for us and I’m
really proud of him tonight.”
The Trojans will be back in action Tuesday at Ansonia.
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Freshman
Wade Meeks looks for a way around Bethel’s Nate Rimkes.
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