One of the best teams in the state visited Vandalia on Tuesday night.

Van-Far vs Montgomery County Photo Gallery

The Van-Far boys faced Eastern Missouri Conference foe and Class 3 No. 2 Montgomery County knowing the Wildcats haven’t lost to a Missouri team this season and came out of the night with a 70-44 loss. Van-Far was down 10-9 after one quarter but then 31-18 at halftime before Montgomery started pulling away in the third quarter.

Head coach Pat Connaway said Montgomery (20-1, 6-0 EMO) has “a lot of firepower” that it throws at opposing offenses. Connaway admitted that Van-Far (14-8, 4-2 EMO) was trying to slow down the pace, as evidenced by a long possession in the first quarter that lasted more than 35 seconds. Still, Montgomery didn’t allow that to stand.

“They sped us up,” Connaway said. “That was the plan early: to try to milk as much clock as we could and shorten the possessions. We handled their pressure, but then their man pressure really started dictating and forced us into some bad turnovers.”

The change of pace made Van-Far “timid” with the ball, Connaway said, and the shorter bench for the Indians was ill-equipped to handle Montgomery’s “intensity.” Gibson Condie was on the bench in a walking boot after hurting his ankle on Saturday against Clopton in the Bowling Green Tournament, and Kasen Christian eventually fouled out.

Van-Far had that loss to its roster on top of the 57-49 loss to Clopton for third place but gained another 1,000-point scorer for the program. Pacey Reading joined the club in the loss and was recognized for the accomplishment before Tuesday’s game. Reading finished with 16 points and five rebounds, Gaven Gaston followed with 14 points and Carson Huff had nine points.

“The one good thing we did do is three of the four quarters, we closed them out the right way where we’ve been awful closing quarters out,” Connaway said. “The Canton game (65-60 loss for Palmyra tournament third place) for example, we’re down four with 30 seconds to go in the third, we turn it over, give up a three and foul a kid. They hit one of two free throws, we turn it over, they get a layup and they score six points in six seconds.”

Van-Far was digging out of a hole the entire game due to unforced turnovers, which has been another recurring problem for the Indians, according to Connaway. Clayton Parker was obviously a mismatch for the Indians’ defense as he led with 25 points and six rebounds and became Montgomery’s all-time leading scorer on a third-quarter 3-pointer.

Parker picked up his fourth personal foul not long after that and had to sit for a good chunk of the third quarter. Van-Far cut an 18-point deficit to an 11-point margin but couldn’t shrink it any more than that. 

“We actually started executing our offense, moving with a purpose, got some layups and hit some shots,” Connaway said. “That’s hurt us a lot: the unforced turnovers. We force long passes — passes we are late with.”

Andrew Moore recorded five steals to go with 17 points and five rebounds for the Wildcats, and Tyler Erwin had 12 points. The short courts Montgomery had most often turned into points on the other end. 

Connaway said the Indians will try to turn around a nine-game stretch that has contained seven losses starting with a 7 p.m. Friday conference game at Mark Twain (3-13, 0-5 EMO). 

“That’s one of the best teams in the area,” Connaway said. “It’s not very often we lose by 24, 25 and 26 and be pleased, but we did a lot of good things.”