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Arcanum senior Kory Baker drive to the hoop Tuesday against Ft.
Recovery. Baker and the Trojans
put up a gallant effort but fell to the
Indians, 61-54. CNO Photo by Dylan Knoop
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Arcanum puts up
huge effort
Trojans fall short
By George Starks
ARCANUM- Heading into Tuesday night’s contest with Ft. Recovery, the
Arcanum Trojans were coming off back to back victories.
Friday, it was Arcanum handing Ansonia a huge CCC loss then pounding on
Dixie Saturday.
Arcanum’s modest two game winning streak came to an abrupt halt as the
Indians dropped a 61-54 loss on the Trojans, sending them to 5-5 on the
season.
“Our effort, intensity and hustle has never been questioned,” said
Arcanum coach Marcus Bixler. “We were 21/23 down, whatever it was, and
we battled back. We were, at one point, just trading baskets. At some
point in time, we have to step up and get some stops and we weren’t
able to do that tonight.”
Trailing 47-34 heading into the final frame, the Trojans fought hard
but could never overcome their own mistakes.
With 2:08 left in the game, the Trojans had closed to with a 50-45
count and was looking to get closer but the Indians had an answer and
the Trojans were to never get any closer.
Adversity plagued the Trojans right from the beginning, going down 7-2
early and trailing 17-6 with eight minutes in the books.
With the first quarter curtain having fell, it was seven turnovers that
sent the Trojans reeling.
We were our own worst enemy,” Bixler admitted. “We weren’t ready to go
tonight. Sometimes I don’t have an answer for it as the coach but it’s
my job to make sure we come out with the intensity high and we’re ready
to go. We were sluggish Saturday night as well at Dixie. We were
fortunate enough to re-group there and not get too far behind. That
wasn’t the case tonight.”
Going down 21-6 early in the second frame and 31-10 with less than two
minutes until the half, the Trojans kicked it into high gear on defense.
Creating four huge turnovers, junior Connor Pohl knocked down two big
treys while junior Hayden Westfall collected one and senior Dalton
Lindemuth hitting two from the charity stripe, a 21 point deficit had
been reduced to 10 at 31-21 at the break.
“Our goal was to be within six heading into the fourth quarter but we
were down 13 at that point,” said Bixler. “Conner (Pohl, 26 points)
played big for us on offense but I’m more happy with what he’s doing on
defense and on the boards. He did a good job of keeping us in there and
bringing us back. We needed to play near perfect basketball down
the stretch but unfortunately, we put ourselves in that situation. We
just have to find ways of getting stops. I can’t emphasize that enough.”
Now, Bixler and the Trojans will turn their attention to Friday as
conference rival Newton will come in for a big CCC clash.
“it will be a good test of character this week,” said Bixler. “We come
back to practice Wednesday and Thursday and the kids have exams this
week. This is a big mental test for us not only on the floor but in the
classroom.”
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