I know this has been said in a previous article on crosscountyconference.com, but let me second the notion that the future of the CCC is in good hands. As fans we have some great years to look forward to when you look at Coaches in the league, whether they’ve coached 20 years or 1; and the young players that are stepping up and playing at the varsity level in a big way. None were bigger than freshman Austin Bruner for Arcanum and sophomore Clint Spitler of Twin Valley South on Friday night. Bruner dropped 19 points on TVS in his second varsity start and Spitler scored 22 with none being bigger than his last two points from the free throw line.

The South Panthers played with two starters missing due to ankle injuries. Sophomore Ryan Innis who is second on the team in scoring and shoots the best percentage from beyond the arc will be out a minimum of two weeks with a high ankle sprain. Senior Josh Flynn, who TVS coach Tony Augspurger noted has developed into a great role player will hopefully be back in action next week. “That is a monumental win for us with two starters out that were playing very, very well” as Augspurger noted the absence of Innis and Flynn.

With their second leading scorer out the Panthers needed someone to step up and the obvious choice was senior Steve Summers. Summers did not disappoint his team mates or the home crowd.

Summers led the Panthers with 8 points in the first two quarters on his way to his game high 27 points for the contest.

Spitler nailed 3 shots from beyond the arc and after he drained his 3rd trey in the middle of the second quarter that put South up 31-18, it appeared that the Panthers were going to run away with it.

Arcanum quickly snuffed out all thoughts of a run away when Brenton Balsbaugh started a 12 – 0 run for the Trojans. The Trojan defense caused the Panthers to cough up the ball in the last 3 and half minutes of the quarter and created buckets in transition or caused the Panthers to foul trailing the play. After senior Clint Hale nailed his 4th free throw in a row the Trojans were only down one, 33-32.

The Trojan D caused another turnover with less than 30 seconds to play in the half. First year coach Brian Gunter called a play in that gave Bruner a nice shot off the glass going down the right side of the lane with 10 seconds left to play. The Trojans were able to take their first lead of the game into the locker room, 33-34.

The third quarter started in similar fashion for TVS when Spitler bombed his fourth trey of the night.

Bruner countered for Arcanum to tie the game at 36. J.T. Stone received a nice assist from Austin Schmidt to put TVS up 2, 38-36.

The defenses for both teams dominated the remainder of the quarter. South maintained a 2 to 3 point lead until Summers nailed a deuce with 45 seconds to play and TVS maintained a 46 – 41 lead at the end of three quarters.

Arcanum started the first four minutes of the 4th quarter with some hard nose defense and manufactured a 9 point run. Bruner led the run with 7 of the 9 points. Clint Hale added a bucket in transition and fellow senior leader Travis Binkley was on the giving end of a nice assist the Bruner who finished it with an old fashioned three point play.

South was knocked back on their heals until Summers nailed a 3 at the 3:50 mark to narrow the gap to one 49-50.

“That three by Steve (Summers) was just gigantic!” noted TVS Coach Tony Augspurger. “We were struggling to score at that point and that gave us a big lift.”

The lead changed hands 4 times over the next two minutes. TVS took the lead twice with 4 free throws in a row by Spitler. Sandwiched in between, Travis Means connected on a nice bucket in transition for Arcanum.

Arcanum extended their lead to 2 when Binkley nailed a big 3 at the 1:35 mark.

“I knew he was going to hit that shot as soon as it left his hands after I watched him hit a huge fade away at the Jet Tournament” noted Augspurger. “We kept him contained most of the game and we let him go for a second and he hurt us. Arcanum’s a good team and we knew they could hurt us offensively in different ways.”

On the next possession for South Clint Spitler nailed a jumper for his 6th point in a row for the panthers that tied the game at 55 with 1:09 to play.

The next minute will not hit the high light film for free throw shooting, but Balsbaugh hit the front end of the first one and bonus to give the Trojans a one point lead, 55-56 with 49 seconds to play. Both TVS and Arcanum failed on the front end of one and bonus opportunities their next trips down the floor.

With 14 seconds left, Spitler drove the lane to draw a foul and did not get the call from the officials. Spitler fouled immediately to send another Trojan to the line for a one and bonus. The Trojans were unable to extend their one point lead again. TVS gathered in the rebound and called a timeout with 3.1 seconds remaining.

With the ball out on the side, the Panthers they were able to lob the ball to Spitler near the top of the key. Spitler took three dribbles down the left side of the lane and shot the runner while leaning into an Arcanum player who tried to take the charge. As the buzzer rang the official’s whistle blew and called the foul on the Arcanum player.

With no time left on the clock and nobody standing in the lane, sophomore Clint Spitler shot two free throws that touched nothing but net. With no time on the clock, TVS made a come from behind victory and beat the visiting Arcanum Trojans 57-56.

“Clint’s a very good free throw shooter and he has a lot of intestinal fortitude!” noted Augspurger after the game. “To hit those free throws with nobody on the line is just huge. Gigantic!” I also thought Steve Summers was huge with 27 points for us tonight.”

“We struggled taking care of the basketball and Arcanum played a very physical, defensive game.”

“What do you expect night in and night out in this conference” noted Arcanum coach Brian Gunter. “A great high school environment if you were a fan of high school basketball.”

“All our kids played hard, but oh my, freshmen Austin Bruner coming up with 19 points in his second varsity start.”

“Our kids listened, played hard and executed the game plan, but this game obviously came down to who was going to have the ball last. We were looking for Summers off the baseline. We were aware of Spitler getting the ball and somebody getting us up in the air on a head fake, but it was unfortunate. We have a choice as a program to grow from this and I think our players will.

Scoring by quarters

Arcanum….11…34…41…56
TVS………17…33…46…57

Arcanum
Binkley – 5
Means – 12
Hale – 10
Woods – 2
Balsbaugh – 8
Bruner – 19

TVS
Spitler – 22
Schmidt – 2
Summers – 27
Stone – 6

3 Point Goals
Arcanum – 3 (Means 2, Binkley)
TVS – 7 (Spitler 4, Summers 3)