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Arcanum junior Connor Pohl drives to the bucket, scoring two of his
game high 21 points as the
Trojans trounced Ansonia, 57-38 Friday in
Cross County Conference action. Pohl pulled in 11 rebounds in
the
victory. CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop
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Trojans march
to big conference victory
By George Starks
ARCANUM- Coming of an 82-45 loss to Tri-Village a week ago, the Arcanum
Trojans put together four solid quarters of basketball Friday.
Ansonia, coming off a 70-42 home loss on Tuesday to Twin Valley South
needed find four quarters of basketball.
In the end, the Trojans, despite a lackluster first quarter, found
their defense and handed Ansonia a 57-38 CCC loss Friday.
Trailing 6-5 after one, the Trojans turned up the heat on defense in
the second frame and the offense stepped up to the plate outscoring the
Tigers, 19-11, taking a 24-17 lead at the break.
“I thought we defended well in the first quarter,” said Arcanum coach
Marcus Bixler. “We forced them to take shots they don’t normally take.
We struggled at the other end either making shots or taking care of the
ball. I told the kids at the end of the first quarter that we had to
continue to get stops. A lot of times when we were not making shots, we
were letting up on the other end. I’ll give my guys credit, I thought
for 32 minutes, it was the best defensive performance we’ve put
together this season.”
In the game, the Trojans had 13 miscues while the Arcanum defense
created numerous problems for Ansonia as the Tigers threw the ball away
20 times.
“We forced some unforced turnover, especially in the first half,”
Bixler stated. “We also pushed their offense out and it was hard for
them to throw the ball to Subler down on the block because we were able
to get them extended out so far. It’s not east to pick up full court
man for 32 minutes either and our guards did a good job putting on the
pressure.”
Junior Conner Pohl netted 21 points and yanked down 11 boards with
senior Collin Habel adding 13 and senior Kory Baker 12 in support.
“We knew we had to have some secondary options,” said Bixler. “We ran
our stuff real well tonight and again, we didn’t knock down a shot in
the first quarter. Once we knocked a couple of shots down and started
moving the ball, we gained some confidence and I thought we did a good
job of attacking the rim. We knew they were a little bit thin and we
kept constantly attacking. I was nice to be able to come off the loss
at Tri-Village and defend the home floor.”
Ansonia coach Darrick Barga had very little to say afterwards.
“We play like we practice,” said Barga. “I need to do a better job
preparing the kids and motivating them. My plan does not work so I need
to change and I need to change it. We have good individual effort at
times but we don’t have it for 32 minutes from everybody. We’re not
committed when it gets tough. When it gets tough and things don’t go
our way, our com1mitment goes out the window.”
Now 4-3, Arcanum will host Ft. Recovery Tuesday in a make-up game that
was postponed due to weather last Tuesday.
Ansonia, 3-7, will visit Tri-County North Friday.
(Game changes)
The Arcanum girls game at Valley View will be played tonight while the
Bradford game has been moved to Monday, February 2 with a 5:30 start.
The Middle Schools boys will be at Bradford on Monday, January 19 while
the Middle school girls game at Covington will now be played on
Saturday, January 31 with a 10 am start.
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Ansonia's Dalton Subler looks to make a save against Arcanum as the
ball heads out of bounds.
Frustrated all night by the Trojan defense,
Subler could only muster six points on offense.
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