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Senior Dalton Rinderle drives the lane Friday against Arcanum's Brandon
Kinney during first
half action at Mississinawa Valley. It was a slow
start for the Hawks but in the end, MV snatched
a 65-60 Cross County
Conference victory. CNO photos by Dylan Knoop
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Hawks win
conference battle over Arcanum
MV holds on to third place in CCC
By George Starks
UNION CITY- There’s an old saying in sports.
“It doesn’t matter how bad you start but how strong you finish.”
Those words were never so true Friday when Arcanum invaded the Hawks
nest at Mississinawa Valley Friday.
On a night when both teams got a slow start out of the gate, it was the
Blackhawks that would eventually prevail, 65-60 over the Trojans in
Cross County Conference action.
“It was like polar opposites in the first half when neither team could
throw it in the ocean,” said Arcanum coach Marcus Bixler. “Then in the
second half, everyone was throwing it in.”
It all boiled down to some late game theatrics and it was the Hawks
that controlled the stage in the final act (quarter).
Holding a slim 37-34 lead with eight minutes left to play, Mississinawa
Valley and Acanum needed some offense and some solid defense as well.
Both teams had the offense but the defense was virtually non-existent
until it was crunch time.
That’s when Tim Barga’s boys stepped up and did what needed to be done.
Arcanum would never see another lead but would close to a 45-44 count
with 4:13 left as Collin Hable would hit in the paint and add a free
throw.
In the end, it all boiled down to foul shots.
On the night, Mississinawa Valley would go 24/29 from the stripe with a
majority of them coming in the fourth quarter.
“There’s no doubt about it, foul shots won the game for us tonight,”
admitted Barga. “We had four kids in double figures and that’s what we
expect. I expect five guys on the court that can shoot. If you can’t
shoot, they’re not going to guard you.”
Led by Devan Rinderle with 15, his brother Dalton added 10 whild Cayden
Cox tied for team honors with 15 as well.
It was the unlikely suspects that hit the big shots for Barga,
Ethan Bowman knocked in 14 for the Hawks and Adam Stocksday hit a huge
jumper from the left side to help spark the win.
“Bowman is just a freshman but we don’t see him as a freshman,” said
Barga. “He’s a varsity player and that’s the way I look at it. Adam
only gets four or five minutes on the floor but he give up a big lift
at times and that shot he hit from the left side was huge for us.”
With the wild ending, no one could have imagined the final outcome.
In the first quarter, it was the Trojans defense that held the Hawks
down and led 12-4 at the end of the frame.
In the second quarter, it was the complete opposite as the Hawks
defense stymied the Trojans offense, holding Arcanum to only two points
to hold a 19-14 lead at the break.
“Their defense came out and really worked hard against us and they
did,” said Barga. “They put us down 12-4 and the end of the first
quarter. It wasn’t our shooting but it was their defense. They played
good defense and I’ve got to brag them up. Our kids never gave up
though.”
In the second quarter it was the Hawks defense that shined as the
offense took off putting up 18 points in the frame.
“In the second quarter, we got a few steals that turned into layups and
that’s what gets us going,” admitted Barga. “Our defense creates a lot
of our offense. Someone hit a three and we took off. When out defense
goes, our offense goes. You can’t expect to give 70 percent on the
defensive end and expect to get 100 percent on the offensive end. It
just doesn’t work that away.”
Coming out to start the third quarter, the Trojans went on a 9-0 run to
go up 23-19 at the 4:58 mark.
That’s when Barga had seen enough.
“We had a little discussion about the way we started the third
quarter,” said Barga. “The kids really responded to it and we got
things going again.”
The Blackhawks went on a scoring spurt in the quarter taking a 37-34
lead with eight minutes left to play.
Arcanum would never see another lead but would close to a 45-44 count
with 4:13 left as Collin Hable would hit in the paint and add a free
throw.
In the end, it all boiled down to foul shots.
On the night, Mississinawa Valley would go 24/29 from the stripe with a
majority of them coming in the fourth quarter.
“There’s no doubt about it, foul shots won the game for us tonight,”
admitted Barga. “We had four kids in double figures and that’s what we
expect. I expect five guys on the court that can shoot. If you can’t
shoot, they’re not going to guard you.”
Now 5-7 on the season and 2-3 in the conference, it never took Bixler
long to see the faults of his team.
“We had two major mistakes tonight,” said Bixler. “We didn’t do a very
good job on our secondary rotation against the dribble drive and as a
result they got too many points in the paint. For me, I got a technical
foul and a situation toward the end of the game and that put my kids
behind the eight ball. We had to defend the paint and we weren’t able
to do that tonight.”
Connor Pohl led all in scoring with 24 points while Kory Baker chipped
in 10 in support.
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It was solid defense that stopped the Trojans as Connor Pohl and Cayden
Cox (33)
did battle in the paint in the second half.
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