Tournament Photos

Van-Far can’t stay in front in loss to Hallsville, Connaway scores career-high 34

After two thrilling games, the Van-Far boys won’t be playing again this week.

The Indians failed to make it to Saturday’s consolation final in the Centralia Invitational Tournament after losing 64-63 to Class 4 Hallsville, coming up short on a 3-footer that went too far. Van-Far also lost to Class 2 No. 2 Salisbury 58-52 on Tuesday despite shrinking a 17-point deficit to four points in the final quarter.

Junior Nikos Connaway scored a career-high 34 points while also having five rebounds and two steals, Pacey Reading followed with 10 points on three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, and Carter Jennings had six points and five rebounds. Hallsville (3-1) dominated the paint, however, hit 9-of-12 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Head coach Pat Connaway said defending Hallsville’s players, especially the Indians’ post duo of Xavier and Isaac Stinson, was a struggle for Van-Far (2-3) as Hallsville made many trips to the line in the second half. Hallsville hit the necessary free throws, including two from Isaac Stinson with 22.3 seconds remaining to eventually win the game. Xavier Stinson led Hallsville with 21 points and six rebounds, Isaac Stinson followed with 16 points and eight rebounds, and Cameron Cox added 10 points.

“We didn’t do a very good job of staying in front of them,” Connaway said. “There were too many easy baskets, and we’ve got to be better than that. We committed some silly fouls, we helped when we shouldn’t have helped, we didn’t do a very good job on our rotations, and on points in the paint, they scored a boatload.”

The minutes leading up to the waning seconds of the game were positive for Van-Far as the Indians fell behind 51-41 early in the fourth quarter only to take a one-possession lead like it had all throughout the first half. Connaway knocked down two free throws to cap the 17-6 run that included a barrage of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Van-Far owned a 58-57 lead with a little more than three minutes left in the game. After struggling with his shot all game, Gage Gibson drained Van-Far’s fifth 3-pointer in the fourth quarter for a 63-62 lead with 22.3 seconds remaining. In the first three quarters, Van-Far didn’t hit a single 3-pointer but went on a hot streak that began with three consecutive made by Reading and makes from Jennings and Gibson.

“That’s just our normal offense,” Connaway said. “It was the same way against Salisbury in the third quarter (on Tuesday). We had open looks but just missed shots. We got good shooters, and we got hot, which makes a big difference.”

The Indians teams went back-and-forth for the entirety of the first half, but Van-Far was the one that stayed ahead by a slim margin. Hallsville had an offensive putback near the end of the first quarter but then Evan Utterback put a shot back in to end the first quarter with a 17-14 Van-Far lead.

Connaway dominated the second quarter with nine points — part of his evenly distributed quarter-by-quarter point total of nine, nine, eight and eight. Cox appeared to give Hallsville some momentum with a steal and score, and it had several chances at the line that went as empty trips. Hallsville missed six free throws to trail 28-26 at halftime.

The 210-pound linebacker Xavier Stinson imprinted himself all over the third quarter, beginning with a 3-point play on a wild shot that gave Hallsville a 29-28 lead 30 seconds deep into the quarter. He finished the third with 12 points — outmatching his five points at halftime — to help Hallsville take a 44-39 advantage that jumped to a 47-39 deficit for Van-Far after Kolton Garner banked in a half-court buzzer beater from half court.

“I had to take Nikos and put him on (Xavier Stinson),” Connaway said. “He was just killing us, walking down the lane and bullying us. I put Nikos on him to stop that, and it slowed their offense down.”

Connaway was proud of his players’ effort to come all the way back in the fourth quarter, even driving Hallsville out of its full-court press when he hasn’t seen anyone do that all season. He wishes Van-Far made better decisions down the stretch to avoid the costly turnovers in the final seconds and that final costly in the paint on Isaac Stinson.

With Van-Far down 64-63 and enough time for just one more play, Hallsville was zeroed on Nikos Connaway, so the leading scorer made an alley-oop pass to Cody Smith (eight points Tuesday against Salisbury), who couldn’t put the winning bucket in after trying to beat a couple defenders and the clock.

“On the last set, they knew it was going to Nikos,” Connaway said. “He made the right read, but Cody just rushed it a little bit. It was a tough angle, and he’s trying to the beat the clock in his head.

“We’re really disappointed we’re not playing Saturday, but it’s a good ballclub. We got a tough one going to North Callaway (at 7:30 p.m.) on Tuesday. We’ll show up ready to compete.”

Indians run out of time, fall short 58-52 to state-ranked Salisbury

The Van-Far boys wanted more time Tuesday night.

That’s how close the Indians were possibly to upsetting the second-best team in Class 2 Salisbury in the first round of the Centralia Invitational Tournament. Van-Far lost 58-52 despite cutting the deficit to as low as four points after beginning the fourth quarter down by 17.

The final minutes were exciting after Cody Smith knocked down a couple 3-pointers as part of his eight points and Nikos Connaway scored 12 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter, bringing Van-Far’s deficit down to 53-49 with just less than a minute to go. However, head coach Pat Connaway thought he should have trusted his players more to play their brand of defense sooner than the fourth quarter.

“We made too many mistakes early,” Connaway said. “I didn’t trust our guys. I changed our style of play because of who they are. We went back to our full-court man, got back to who we are and we started having success — getting steals, get out in the open floor and get easy buckets.”

Salisbury (2-2) was ahead 47-30 after the third quarter, but its lead was gradually chipped away after Van-Far’s timeout within the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. The Indians (2-2) didn’t give the Panthers much room to breathe, which allowed the Indians room to breathe in the open court.

Connaway scored on a coast-to-coast layup and then Smith shot his hand to the ball to pick up the steal and score off the turnover. The deficit shrank to 10 at 51-41 with 3:23 remaining after Connaway nailed a 3-pointer and made a layup through two defenders.

Connaway picked up a couple more steals to add to his total of four and team-high seven rebounds, Gage Gibson was found for an open layup to top off his eight points and Smith showcased lockdown defense until he was forced to foul out of the game in the final minute.

“Cody played well,” Connaway said. “He can do that because he brings so much energy. He’s quick, he can knock down a shot and he can get to the rim. 

“It was a really big fourth quarter (for him), and we needed some of that. Gage played solid, but we’ve got to have one or two more scorers to go along with Nikos. Cody doing that, Carter (Jennings) can do it, Brayden (Lay) can do it, Pacey (Reading) can do it, and so can Gage. It’s just getting them there.”

For Salisbury, London White led with 18 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, Cooper Francis followed with 12 points and five rebounds, Ethan Hamilton had 12 points and two 3-pointers, and Ryan Binder had eight points and six rebounds off the bench. 

Francis, in particular, worried Connaway the most and was a big reason why Van-Far used a matchup zone defense when it hasn’t done that all season.

“We thought if we packed in, we’d do a better job on the boards,” Connaway said. “It didn’t happen. So when we were down, we needed a spark. I wish we would’ve had another minute or minute and a half.”

White was a force in the paint in the first quarter for Salisbury as he finished with 10 points in the eight minutes, helping the Panthers take a 17-10 lead after one quarter. 

The teams exchanged buckets running up and down the floor in the second quarter as Van-Far drew as close as five points two times. Gibson knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 23-18 and then Connaway followed with his own 3-pointer for a 28-23 deficit. Salisbury finished the first half strong as White, Francis and Binder wrestled the rebound advantage to the Panthers, combining for 20 of Salisbury’s rebounds and doubling up the Indians 32-16 on the boards.

“Mentally, we were a little soft early,” Connaway said. “There were too many turnovers. Ultimately, we got beat up on the boards.”