Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

WEST BRANCH – On a night where West Branch senior point guard Holden Arnaman was honored for his historic offensive output it was defense that set the tone for the Bears.

West Branch held Mid-Prairie scoreless for the first quarter and Arnaman poured in a game-high 31 points as West Branch rolled to an 83-46 win over the Golden Hawks in the River Valley Conference South Division opener for both teams on Friday in West Branch.

“We worked really hard in practice on what they were going to run to prepare for them defensively and we really executed it,” Arnaman said. “We did a really good job of communicating, we forced some turnovers and they got no easy hoops. No easy baskets.”

Mid-Prairie (2-2) actually got no baskets of any kind in the opening eight minutes.

West Branch (3-1) held the Golden Hawks scoreless for the opening quarter as Mid-Prairie committed six turnovers and missed all 11 of its first-quarter field goal attempts.

“We really did set the tone early with defense,” West Branch sophomore Dale said. “We wanted to bring energy and compete every play on defense and give it 100 percent and I feel like that really set the tone and got us going for the rest of the game.”

Arnaman was recognized before the game for becoming just the fifth 1,000-point scorer in West Branch history.

He joins Marv Cook, Rylan Murray, Cooper Kabela and Beau Cornwell in the Bear 1,000-point club.

After his prep-game honors Arnaman led a smothering defensive effort and hit three first-quarter 3-pointers as West Branch opened the game on a 15-0 run.

“It helps a lot to hit a few shots early,” Arnaman said. “Last year I got off to some slow starts and this year I know I need to get out and get buckets early to get me going and get my teammates going.”

West Branch led 9-0 less than four minutes into the game and never let up on either end.

The Bears shot 60 percent from the field, including 14-of-27 from 3-point range while putting up a season-high 83 points.

Arnaman led four West Branch players in double figures as senior Reese Trapanier had 13 points and eight rebounds, Nathan Hills had 11 points and Dale had 10.

“I really thought our defense led to our offense early tonight,” West Branch coach Jason Kern said. “Then It started raining threes for us in the second half and good things happen when that happens.”

The offensive statistics for West Branch stand out and Arnaman was at the center of the efficient Bear attack.

Arnaman was 11-of-14 from the field and 7-of-10 from 3-point range on his way to 31 points.

However, this win was all about defense.

Wet Branch built a 34-15 halftime lead and never let Mid-Prairie get closer than 16 points the rest of the game.

“There were games last year when we played good teams where we’d score 60 or 70 points and we’d end up losing so we knew this year it was key to get stops,” Arnaman said. “We haven’t always done that in the past but this year we have guys that can come in with fresh legs and get up on guys on defense.”

Bryce Henry led Mid-Prairie with 10 points as the Golden Hawks shot 41 percent from the floor and committed 19 turnovers.

“We knew exactly what they were going to do, they run that dribble drive handoff stuff so we’d been drilling that the last two days in practice,” Kern said. “They did not get up an uncontested shot, everything was contested.”

Mid-Prairie                           0   15  15  16  –  46   

West Branch                        15  19  22  27  –  83

Mid-Prairie (46) – Ace Peck 0-2 0-0 0, Brady Weber 2-9 2-4 6, Landon Sullivan 3-11 0-0 8, Bryce Henry 4-7 0-0 10, Dylan Henry 3-5 1-2 4, Conner Wiles 1-3 0-0 2, Beau Flynn 3-4 0-0 6, Landon Kos 1-1 0-0 2, Totals 18-44 4-8 46.

West Branch (83) – Nathan Hills 4-9 0-0 11, Cameron Gingerich 2-3 0-0 6, Holden Arnaman 11-14 2-2 31, Trenton Schutte 2-3 1-2 5, Jayden Harris 0-5 0-0 0, Brennen Dale 4-7 2-3 10, Treese Trepanier 5-7 1-2 13, Cole Crosthewaite 1-1 0-0 2, Michael Montgomery 2-3 1-2 5, Totals 31-52 7-11 83.

3-point field goals – WB 17-27 (Arnaman 7-10, Hills 3-7, Gingerich 2-3, Harris 0-4, Trepanier 2-3), M-P 6-15 (Peck 0-2, Weber 0-2, Sullivan 2-3, B. Henry 2-3, D. Henry 1-2, Harland 1-2, Wiles 0-1). Rebounds – WB 25 (Trepanier 8), M-P 28 (Flynn 7). Turnovers – WB 7, M-P 19. Total fouls – WB 11, M-P 12. Fouled out – None. Technical – None.

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