Story by Bob Moore
The Arcanum Trojans broke a 15 year drought entering the game tonight versus the North College Hill Trojans being the first Arcanum team to play at this level of the State Tournament since 1993. The Trojans from North College Hill (NCH) have won the Division III State Championship the last 3 years with last year being the first championship without the infamous OJ Mayo and Bill Walker. The Trojans proved again tonight that they don’t need the side show to be successful. A well coached, quick and skilled basketball team from the Cincy Suburbs was too much for their Trojan counterparts from Darke County as they cruised to 62-48 victory.

“Coach (Jamie) Mathey does a great job” complimented Arcanum Coach Brian Gunter. “They have good talent, played good defense, quick and they beat you to a spot; but you know what? Our kids battled.”

Arcanum dug in from the opening tip and after falling behind 3-0 with two turnovers in the first two possessions, the Trojans went on an 8 point run and it appeared the battle was on.

Braden Means started the run at the 6:37 mark with a two with an assist credited to freshman starter Austin Bruner. Thirty seconds later Bruner contributed two points from senior guard Travis Binkley who garnered an assist. Binkley’s front court mate and fellow senior leader Clint Hale added the last 4 points of the run with the freshman phenom Bruner adding his second assist in the run with 4:26 remaining in the quarter. Arcanum not only sustained the initial NCH run but responded with an 8-3 lead.

NCH countered with a 9 point run that began with a deuce from their senior leader Damon Butler that put NCH up 8-12. Butler has been an integral part of NCH’s past tournament runs and is the leading scorer back from last year’s State Championship team.

Arcanum climbed within one when Brenton Balsbaugh hit his first free throw after being fouled in the paint. Means gathered in the offensive rebound on Balsbaugh’s second attempt and found Hale open on the block for two that made the score 11-12, NCH with 2:13 left in the half.

It was at this point the NCH Trojans showed why they are a dangerous team. The Trojans from Cincy showcased their quickness and basketball skills that would knock Arcanum back on their heels for the remainder of the game. NCH caused 5 turnovers in the quarter with several occurring in the last 2 minutes. Sophomore Barry Cobb started the run with a trey, while Butler finished the quarter with 2 shots from beyond the arc. The NCH Trojans went from 1 to 10 point lead with 3 straight bombs from their front court tandem.

The second quarter did not start any better for Arcanum when Butler drained a deuce and Cobb added his second 3 ball. Counting the barrage at the end of the first quarter, Cobb and Butler drained 4 treys for NCH in a 3 minute span. When Balsbaugh made a free throw at the 7:23 mark it ended a 23 – 4 run for NCH as that gave them a 14 point lead, 12-26. Arcanum hung with NCH for the remainder of the half as Balbaugh contributed with 6 points and Binkley scored 5 of his 8 points of the game in this quarter that included Arcanum’s only 3’ of the half. Arcanum trailed 26-39 at the break.

Arcanum started the half in great fashion with buckets from Hale, Mean and Bruner that narrowed the NCH lead to 7, 32-39. Butler again stopped the bleeding for the NCH Trojans with a bucket and NCH coach Mahaffey called a timeout with a 9 point lead with 5:13 left in the quarter. The rest of the quarter turned into an offensive stalemate as Arcanum did a better job on D, but couldn’t make up any offensive ground. The quarter ended with NCH leading 36-45.

The offensive woes continued for Arcanum in the 4th quarter as the team quickness and athleticism from NCH continued to take its toll on Arcanum. NCH added 6 points to their comfortable margin that extended their lead to 15 with just under 6 minutes to play.

Hale finally broke the ice on the bucket with two free throws with 4:46 to play. Binkley added his second trey of the evening to narrow the gap to 10, 41-51, but Arcanum did not narrow the gap any further on the defending State Champs. North College Hill went on the claim their 4th District Championship in a row by defeating Arcanum 62-48.

Coach Gunter complimented the NCH program. The NCH Trojans scored 21 points off turnovers and 20 points off fast breaks in the first half that gave them the margin the needed to secure the win. “Good teams capitalize on mistakes” continued Gunter. “It’s difficult to simulate their quickness like that in a practice session. It seemed like they had more than 5 players out there with how quick they could beat you to spots.”

Coach Gunter was very upbeat in his post game interview and was very proud of his teams’ effort in the game and throughout the season.

“Boy, you look back at this season and this team achieved like you wouldn’t believe. It was fun to be a part of. I just told them in the locker room that it was an honor to be their coach. Our senior leadership from Travis (Binkley) and Clint (Hale) was exceptional with the energy they brought every day in practice and bought into what we were try to establish with the program” noted Gunter. “They (Hale and Binkley) handled themselves as fine young men representing our community and school. For a first year coach to have those two guys as your seniors; that’s incredible.”

“We had enthusiasm in the community and I’ve had people come up and say they haven’t been to a basketball game in a while. District Runner Up; Sectional Champions and we had a good season in the league going 16 – 8 overall; that’s great for those young men in there, especially for our two seniors leaving.”

On next year Arcanum has 4 of the 6 players returning that played a majority of the minutes with Means, Balsbaugh, Bruner and Jordan Greve. I noted to Coach Gunter that the CCC is going to be a tough conference next year with Arcanum and the like returning some great young players. He agreed. “My first year in the CCC it’s been a battle!” grinned the Arcanum coach, “but it has been fun! We have a great conference and now I know what Darke County Basketball is all about. It is really good and it has been a lot of fun.”

Scoring by Quarters
Arcanum…11...26…36…48
NCH……..21...39…45…62

Arcanum
Binkley – 8
Means – 9
Hale – 13
Balsbaugh – 8
Bruner – 6 (7 rebounds, 5 assists)
Paulus – 2
White – 2
FG % 41.3 (19-46) 3FG% 22.2 (2-9) FT% 50 (8-16)

NCH
Cobb – 13
Butler – 22 (6 assists)
Johnson – 6
Shellman – 9 (8 rebounds)
Pruitt – 9
Martin – 3
FG % 50 (24-48) 3FG% 46.2 (6-13) FT% 61.5 (8-13)

Rebounds
NCH 31 (9 Off – 22 Def)
Arcanum 26 (11 – 15)