Willow, Red Devils top Arcadia

ARLINGTON – Calvin Willow, Arlington's 6-foot-10 post, was asked if his performance against Arcadia was one of his best career games. The senior considered it for a moment. "I'd say it's one of my better games, yeah," he said. Willow scored 27 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had three blocks in Friday's 74-39 win over the Redskins. Ayden Cavinee, another Red Devils senior, put up 21 points as Arlington – a Division VII state semifinalist a season ago – won for the 15th straight time and concluded the regular season at 19-3, 9-1 in the BVC, "Always great to finish the season strong," Cavinee said. Arcadia played the Red Devils hard. They scored the game's first five points on a jumper from Tripp Brubaker and a 3 from the corner by Grady Bronston. The Red Devils answered with a 21-8 spurt, and led the Redskins 21-13 after one. Arlington scored the first eight points of the period, going up 29-13 after a drive by Hunter Rausch and a free throw by Willow. The Redskins answered with a 6-1 spurt; an Owen Green layup pulled Arcadia within 31-19 with 1:43 left in the half. The Red Devils had an answer. Willow kept getting to the free throw line, Drew Metzger connected on a 3 from the corner, and a Trenton Heacock layup in the final seconds gave Arlington a 39-19 halftime advantage. "We saw that we could spread them out and hopefully get past them a lot more," Willow said. "Just following (the gameplan), we did what we did." Arcadia went into the break in foul trouble. Lamarion Tucker and Blayne Colman – each centers for the Redskins – had already picked up four fouls each. "Our program's still got some growing to do," said Arcadia coach Jordan Benson, whose squad ended the regular season 14-8, 7-3 in the BVC. "It's easy to score 30 points when (Willow) can get in the paint, and we can't touch him. It is what it is." Heacock finished with eight points for the Red Devils, while Lukas McIlroy added six. Arcadia was led by Brubaker, who scored 17. "Tripp's really good," Benson said. "He's been good for our team this year." Isaac Stoner added 11 for the Redskins. Arlington coach Jason Vermillion said Arcadia made things tough at times on his team. "I was proud of our guys, because Arcadia's had a great year," Vermillion said. "Coach Benson's got his program going in a good direction. "We still had some breakdowns, and they made us pay," he said. "Their attack was really good." Arcadia will host North Baltimore Thursday in its Division VII postseason opener. Benson was asked what he's looking for from his team. "Just be better on Monday and Tuesday than we were the day before," he said. "Just go take care of business." Arlington, will host Vanlue in it's postseason opener, also Thursday. "We feel like we've got some areas that have to get cleaned up at both ends," Vermillion said. "Get back to work Monday, work on some stuff, get ready for next Thursday." ARCADIA (14-8, 7-3 BVC) Stoner 4-2—11; Green 1-0—2; Bronston 3-0—7; Brubaker 8-1—17; Emerich 1-0—2. TOTALS 15-46 –3-5—39. ARLINGTON (19-3, 9-1 BVC) Metzger 1-0—3; McIlroy 3-0—6; Rausch 2-0—5; Heacock 3-2—8; Steffan 1-0—2; Cavinee 9-0—21; Willow 9-9-27; Wenner 1-0--2. TOTALS: 30-51—11-18—74 Arcadia 13 6 11 9 – 39 Arlington 21 20 18 17 – 74 3-POINT GOALS: Arcadia 2-9 (Stoner, Bronston); Arlington 5-10 (Cavinee 3, Metzger, Rausch) REBOUNDS: Arcadia 25; Arlington 31 (Willow 10) TURNOVERS: Arcadia 20; Arlington 11. JV: Arlington, 63-23.