Charlie Weiss (11) and Arcanum were all over Anna junior Rhylan Platfoot for three three quarters, which was enough to emerge with the victory. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Howard)
Hot starts were the name of the game Monday night in the Division V district semifinals at Northmont.
Clayton, OH – The Arcanum boys basketball team felt like a pack of caged animals the past two weeks. They foamed at the mouth to be let out of their own gym, to run free on any other basketball court.
But there were no games to play.
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The dreaded first-round tournament bye makes 17 days a long time to practice, it makes a coach find ways to maintain a competitive edge, and to plot for an opponent you didn’t know for sure until Day 13.
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Monday arrived and with it an Arcanum team ready to take on anyone but themselves and to change recent history. The Trojans have compiled nine straight winning seasons. But they haven’t played in a district final since 2008.
On Monday night, a whole new world opened to the Trojans, and they earned the next goal on their list: another 32 minutes together in uniform.
Free to run, pass, shoot and defend someone else, the sixth-seeded Trojans broke fast out of the gate against an eighth-seeded Anna team with its eyes on a second straight district title. But the Trojans, unwilling to be tamed by anything Anna tried, turned their fast start into a 59-49 victory in a Division V district semifinal at Northmont High School.
“For two weeks, we didn’t have real competition, so it was exciting to be back in a game,” Arcanum senior Cameron Ball said. “We came out strong. We practiced hard for two weeks straight, and here we are – we played our best.”
The Trojans’ reward is a meeting with No. 1 seed Waynesville at either 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. Saturday at Xenia High School in a district final. The last time the Trojans won a district Trophy? Fifty years ago in 1976. The task is mighty. Waynesville (22-2) thumped Graham on Monday, 70-28.
But the Trojans (18-5) will arrive fully confident. Their win total is the highest of their nine straight winning seasons. Monday was the first tournament win for any of the players. And despite being seeded higher than Anna, they feel like they’ve already knocked off one team many didn’t give them much of a chance against.
Trojans always one step ahead … Arcanum’s Ben Hamilton gets to a rebound before Anna’s Brady Wenning.
“When you look at the landscape of Anna and what they’ve done – we’ve got a lot of respect for them – we knew this was not a 12-11 program,” third-year Arcanum coach Kevin Brackman said. “They were a better team than that.”
Anna (12-12) opened tournament play last week with a 54-35 win over Miami East. But the Rockets looked like the rusty team. They led 7-5 before the Trojans scored the final 13 points of the first quarter to lead 18-7. The lead reached 28-11 when Ball tipped in a rebound and Charlie Weiss scored in the paint.
“For us it was about starting hot, starting with a lot of energy, trying to get touches around the rim and we leaned on our bigs,” Brackman said. “That hot start’s important. This group likes to get out and go.”
For Anna, the first 14 minutes were an Arcanum blur of motion offense and inbounds plays they couldn’t grasp. The Trojans got to the rim in their half-court offense and on the fast breaks. Ball was well on his way to a team-high 17 points, and 6-foot-7 sophomore Ben Hamilton had a good start on his 15-point night.
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“Their athleticism, attacking us, I didn’t think we’d give up that amount of points to start the game,” Anna coach Nate Barhorst said. “They just punched us in the mouth from the get-go.”
Anna threw a couple counterpunches, but the damage was too great to repair. The Rockets scored the last seven points of the half in the final 1:18 to trail 28-18.
“I thought maybe we could use that as firepower going into the second half,” Barhorst said.
Rhylan Platfoot tried to rally Anna with 12 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.
But Arcanum kept scoring and grew its lead to 43-25 at the end of the third quarter and 49-30 with 5:53 left. The Rockets finally punched out some offensive rhythm. Rhylan Platfoot, their leading scorer, at last found some openings against a defense designed to bottle him up. He jumpstarted an 11-2 run with the first of his three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
From 10 down, the Rockets got as close as 53-46 with 1:22 left. But the Trojans closed the door. A 24-point fourth quarter, 12 of Platfoot’s 14 points and six of Brady Wenning’s 18 points weren’t nearly enough.
Arcanum’s victory exemplified the goal of a team effort. In addition to Ball and Hamilton’s close-range scoring, guards Matthew McCans and Bishop Cartwright made enough threes to keep the Rockets honest. McCans made two threes in the third quarter, including a long one with four seconds left, and scored eight points.
“We said you can’t let him have any daylight,” Barhorst said. “He sees that first one go in, watch out.”
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Cartwright made a three and scored 10. More importantly, Cartwright has stepped up into the point guard role since starter Jace Mote was injured a month ago. Mote didn’t score much, but he averaged seven assists.
Anna’s A.J. Barhorst gets a hand on a shot by Arcanum’s Ben Hamilton.
Cartwright, however, has plenty of varsity experience. He was the backup last year as a sophomore while Mote, also a sophomore, led the JV team. But in the summer Mote moved ahead to become the starter, and Cartwright averaged about eight to 10 minutes a game off the bench until Mote was injured.
“It was just so easy to plug and play because he knows all that we do,” Brackman said. “It wasn’t as big of a shock for our guys that you would have thought.”
Nor was it a shock to play zone exclusively against the Rockets, a defense the Trojans have employed at other times this season. They kept Platfoot from finding much room to shoot for three quarters and made it difficult for the Rockets to score inside.
“A lot of that is a big complement to Coach Barhorst,” Brackman said. “His offense is deadly, and when Platfoot has free reign to roam, he’s deadly. Make him go left on the catch because when he goes right, he’s dangerous.”
Versailles starts well, finishes off outmanned Madison
Versailles’ Drake Ahrens had the Tigers’ offense humming in the early minutes.
Versailles coach Travis Swank wanted his third-seeded team to come out with the same fire as Arcanum against No. 16 Middletown Madison, losers of 15 straight.
Don’t mess around. Not against a team whose last win was in 2025 on December 27.
And in two minutes and 20 seconds, Madison saw everything its scouting report said it had to control, sending Versailles quickly on its way to a 70-30 victory in another district semifinal.
Point No. 1: Don’t let point guard Drake Ahrens make straight-line drives for easy layups. But there was Ahrens taking an outlet pass the length of the floor past unwilling defenders for the game’s first basket.
Point No. 2: Don’t let 6-foot-8 Maddox Stonebraker catch and shoot 3-pointers. But there was Stonebraker catching a cross-court pass from Ahrens and canning the first of his two first-half 3-pointers for a 5-0 lead.
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Point No. 3: Don’t let Ahrens be comfortable enough to make your defense look silly with no-look passes that result in easy layups for his teammates. But there was Ahrens at the top of the key firing a left-handed, no-look missile to Kade Schwartz for an easy two that only Ahrens saw coming for a 7-2 lead.
And you knew, if you didn’t already, that Madison had no chance. Just the way Swank wanted it.
Maddox Stonebraker scored 12 points to help lead Versailles’ potent offense.
“Good things happen to you when you’re focused and ready to go from the get-go, and we were able to do that here tonight,” he said. “When the ball moves with energy, it doesn’t matter if it’s coming from Drake or anybody else, we’re pretty good. When we can do that, we’re a dangerous team because guys are unselfish and the guys are able to make shots.”
Madison coach Shane Richardson, to his credit, kept pushing his team to do what they’d practiced. He was up and down the sideline, nimbly in his red, white and black Jordans, exhorting his outmanned team to make the right play.
But Ahrens continued to find openings and finished with eight assists, all by the 3:31 mark of the second quarter. With 1:19 left, Ahrens left the game for the night, limping on a tender ankle, with the Tigers up 41-12. There was plenty of time left for Ahrens to pad his assist count, but there was no need. The single-game school record he set with 15 assists against St. Henry on February 13 was safe.
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The Tigers were led in scoring by Stonebraker and Blake Monnin with 12 points apiece. Ahrens and Cam Ahrens scored 10 each. The second-half lead eclipsed 35 points early in the fourth quarter and a running clock brought a quick end to the night.
Blake Monnin fights his way to the basket and scored after he got there.
“You don’t take anything for granted,” Swank said. “You got to go out there and execute, got to be sharp. Tournament basketball is a funny thing. You want to be playing your best right now.”
The Tigers’ best might well be required in Saturday’s district final (11 a.m. or 1 p.m.) at Xenia against undefeated Williamsburg, the bracket’s other No. 1 seed. At least that’s the expectation. The Wildcats play No. 8 Cincinnati Madeira at 7:30 Tuesday night at Cincinnati Indian Hill.
Williamsburg scores inside with as much size as Versailles has seen this season and outside with two 3-point shooting guards.
Versailles’ offensive abilities were obvious against Madison. But it will take the same kind of defensive effort, and probably more, that Swank was so pleased with Monday.
“We got out there early and played the physical brand of basketball that we’re accustomed to,” he said. “We put the stamp on the game by our physical defense.”
Another fast start – as those who witnessed all three of Monday’s games can attest – would also enhance the Tigers’ chances of a second district title in three years.
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