The Van-Far boys weren’t fouling enough.

Van-Far vs Clopton Bowling Green Title Photo Gallery

Fouls can be a sign of danger of a shrinking roster but can also signify aggressiveness, Van-Far head coach Pat Connaway said, as the Indians were plenty aggressive in the second half on Saturday to defeat Eastern Missouri Conference and district foe Clopton 62-46 for the Bowling Green tournament championship. The top-seeded Indians won their first Bowling Green title since 2018 — the year of their most recent state title — after bouncing back from a 28-23 halftime deficit.

“We weren’t very aggressive in the first half,” Connaway said. “We only had 14 fouls. We made five 3s, which was great, but we were settling, we weren’t getting downhill and we weren’t attacking.”

When Van-Far (14-3) is aggressive, Connaway said it helps various areas of its game, especially its defense. Connaway said the Indians aim to hold opponents under 50 points and were in danger of not accomplishing that after allowing returning all-conference post players Kain and Cash Eivins to combine for 18 points in the first half. The Eivins brothers only had eight points in the second half, giving the Indians a chance to overtake the Hawks (14-5) by the end of the third quarter, with a 39-35 lead after three, and then grow the lead to 52-38 about halfway through the fourth quarter.

For post players, the Eivins brothers show much footwork and quickness that make them a hard matchup for opponents. Connaway said Carter Jennings and Carson Huff were primarily eyeing them on defense, and then Gaven Gaston and Evan Utterback contributed later on. 

“The Eivins brothers didn’t shoot any free throws (in the first half),” Connaway said. “If they catch that low, we’ve got to make a play on the ball and make them earn it at the free-throw line.”

Pacey Reading and Nikos Connaway combined for 13 points in the first half for Van-Far but then exploded in the second half with 22 combined points. Connaway led the team with 19 points, nine rebounds and three steals while Reading finished a landmark scoring week with 16 points along with five rebounds. Carson Huff added nine points, including seven in the second half.

Both Indians were named to the all-tournament team after each of their second-half performances to cap good weeks. Reading, especially, found the bottom of the net frequently since he averaged 20.7 points in three games to be chosen as the tournament MVP.

“The shot was falling,” Reading said. “Last week, in the Palmyra tournament, it seemed to be hit-or-miss. This week, it felt good and was falling. This game, they guarded me a little more closely, but we ran some sets to me and I got some open shots.”

“Everybody’s going to focus on Nikos,” Connaway said. “When Nikos drives, he kicks, Pacey’s got his feet set and we’ll let that boy shoot all night. He’s also learning to use his body and score at the rim.”

Reading pulled down multiple offensive rebounds in the second half that turned into points after Clopton outrebounded Van-Far 14-8 in the first half. The Indians were on top at the end with a 22-20 rebounding advantage. Jennings added five rebounds and two 3-pointers.

Containing the Eivins brothers was key, Reading said, and demonstrated the coaching staff’s primary halftime message of being physical. This approach helped Reading and the offense as well.

“We were like, ‘Sustain the big boys and be physical with them as well,’” Reading said. “Keep them high up and don’t let them catch because they try to get that high-low action. (Defensively), they played high up in the passing lane so it was hard for us to get the ball so we had to use our body because it’s a physical game.”

Nikos Connaway said the Indians were “getting beat up” like in the first half against Monroe City in last week’s Tony Lenzini tournament third-place game. Van-Far had a better second half then to win and did the same against an opponent they’ll see one more time in the regular season and perhaps again in districts.

Jennings made some nice passes to Reading, Gage Gibson and then to Huff for a 3-pointer for a 46-37 Van-Far lead with 5:48 left in the fourth quarter and give him four assists in the game. The Indians kept going, and Connaway definitely kept going, after turning steals into points. 

“Coming out of the locker room, we had to anticipate more passes and get easy runouts because we only had two transition points in the first half,” Connaway said. “We knew we had to start beating them up in transition.”

Connaway executed back-to-back 3-point plays, including one where he had his back to the rim while throwing it in the rim.

“First of all, I don’t really know how it went in,” Connaway said with a grin. “I was super pumped. We needed that to get energy for the whole team.”

Pat Connaway said, for that inevitable occasion when Van-Far meets Clopton again, the Indians need to be their second-half selves from the past two tournament trophy Saturdays for four quarters. 

“If we can get to where they have to start pressuring us, then the advantage is us,” Connaway said. “Nikos can get downhill and finish and do all kinds of stuff. If we want to be good, that two-headed monster (of Connaway and Reading) has to keep clicking, and then we have to have Carter, Gage, Carson and Gaven all got to do something.”