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Mississinawa
Valley senior Dane Bloomenstock takes a shot in the first
quarter of the Hawks
game at Arcanum. Mississinawa Valley won the Cross
County Conference game, 62-51. Bloomenstock
led the offensive charge
for the Hawks with 15 points while Arcanum senior Mason Garber led all
in
scoring with 19. CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop
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Mississinawa takes CCC battle from Arcanum
Defense key for Hawks
By George Starks
ARCANUM- For the second time since the Jet tournament, the Mississinawa
Valley Blackhawks proved to be a thorn in the side of the Arcanum
Trojans.
In the opening game of that tournament, Mississinawa Valley overcame an
18 point deficit to top the Trojans 67-61.
Friday in their CCC matchup, the Hawks used a combination of defense
and offense in the second quarter, once again frustrating Brian Gunter
and Arcanum.
Trailing 13-7 after the opening quarter, MV poured in 23 second quarter
points while holding the Trojans to only six points in the frame.
In the end, it all added up to a 62-51 victory for Mississinawa Valley.
Getting off to a slow start, the Hawks came together as a team and did
what had to be done.
In a pre-season interview with Hawks coach Rodney Saintignon said he
had 10 kids that could play at any time.
It didn’t work.
“We got out of the gate slowly,” said Saintignon. “I tried a little
different strategy tonight, starting out with some different players
and it didn’t work very well so we got back to where we were and the
second quarter we won 23-6 I think. It was a big second quarter for us.”
Trailing 13-7 after one, the Hawks came out in the second stanza and
went on a 11-0 run at the 5:42 mark of the half, taking a 18-13 lead,
forcing Arcanum to call time in an attempt to slow the onslaught down.
The Hawks answered the attempt by Arcanum coach Brian Gunter, going on
another short run of 5-0 before the Trojans got on the board at 2:03
off a shot by senior Mason Garber.
At that point, Mississinawa Valley had built a 24-15 lead before going
into the break with a dominating 30-19 advantage.
“It was a big second quarter for us,” admitted Saintignon. “The guys
stepped it up and never looked back from there.”
The Hawks continued their offensive attack but the Trojans offense woke
up as well but with eight minutes left to play, Mississinawa still held
a 44-35 advantage.
“We’ve been working on defense a lot because I think that’s our weakest
point,” Saintignon said. “We went man to man trying to help each other
out down low. I’d like to see it work for four quarters but hey, I
think we’re getting there.”
The final stanza brought on a revived look for the Trojans. Garber came
off the bench for the Trojans and literally took over.
Garber scored eight of the first 10 points of the frame as Arcanum
closed to within three, 46-43, with 5:18 left to play.
Saintignon called time, looking to break the momentum.
Out of the break, Hawks senior Dane Bloomenstock netted the next five
points but the Trojans answered with buckets from Conner Pohl and Kory
Baker.
When Saintignon needed another person to step up, he got that help from
Dalton Rinderle who hit back to back three’s, getting the Hawks back to
that nine point bulge.
“This whole team just stepped up in that fourth quarter,” said
Saintignon. “We are playing strong right now and we still want to
finish in the top five in the conference when the season is over.”
With the loss, the Trojans fell to 3-4 on the season but Gunter remains
optimistic.
“The season is still young for us,” said Gunter. “I think we shot
better against them in the game at Franklin Monroe. “We missed a lot of
close rung shots tonight and we addressed that in the locker room after
the game. I think we missed ten or fifteen shots from ten feet or
closer. We missed some uncontested lay-ups. We just have to get back in
the gym and work on things. We made plenty of defensive stops but
couldn’t get any scores and that makes a big difference.”
From three point range, the Trojans hit only one. That coming from
Baker.
“We were one of seventeen unofficially from outside the arc,” said
Gunter. “We hit fourteen in the second game at the Jet. Where was that
tonight?”
With the win, the Hawks went to 4-5 on the year and will host Twin
Valley South Friday and Ansonia on Saturday.
The Trojans will play at Ft. Recovery on Tuesday before going to
Franklin Monroe Friday. The Trojans will host Dixie on Saturday.
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Arcanum's
Mason Garber and MV's Cayden Cox chase after a loose ball. Cox and the
Hawks won the game in come from behind fashion.
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