For many of the Van-Far boys, this is their last chance to play for the Indians.
The senior-heavy Indians won their season-high seventh straight game on Thursday at home with a 60-43 …
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For many of the Van-Far boys, this is their last chance to play for the Indians.
The senior-heavy Indians won their season-high seventh straight game on Thursday at home with a 60-43 victory over Christian Fellowship (14-7). Van-Far (17-7) drained nine 3-pointers, including five from senior Pacey Reading, who finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds.
Reading said Van-Far remembers its 51-46 opening loss to conference and district foe Clopton in the Bowling Green Tournament about a month ago. He said the Indians decided to run the table since then.
“The Clopton game really hurt,” Reading said. “We love the Bowling Green Tournament and want to play for a championship. After losing that first game, we were like, ‘OK, we’re just going to win out.’”
Reading said the team knew there were challenging teams on the rest of Van-Far’s schedule, but the Indians were resolute in winning to earn the best possible seed in districts and make a run from there.
Head coach Pat Connaway said Van-Far is seeing things, especially on defense, like it used to and that has been encouraging to see during its winning streak.
“Probably the most important thing for us is we finished the quarter,” Connaway said. “We finished out the second strong and in the third when they were wanting to junk and box-and-one (Pacey), we’d kill the last two minutes and get a bucket. We haven’t been able to do that all year.”
Connaway liked seeing how the Indians closed the second quarter after Christian Fellowship took a 14-12 lead and then cut into Van-Far’s lead to trail 20-18. Van-Far was in firm control for the rest of the game following a 10-0 run.
“It was all about getting stops,” Connaway said. “Defensively, we made things tough for them. (Jake Davis) and (Brett Conklin) are really good shooters, and I think we frustrated them, hedging ball screens and doing some things they probably hadn’t seen this year.”
Reading closed the fourth quarter well for Van-Far with nine points. Prior to hitting his final 3-pointer, he made back-to-back off-balance shots through contact to earn a free throw and finish the 3-point play.
Connaway said Gibson Condie, who finished with 12 points, set good screens to help Reading find open shots and Gaven Gaston, who had 10 points, did well passing to him. He said he is confident Reading is going to hit shots when he is that open.
“He knows how to get himself open and get his shot off,” Connaway said. “Sometimes, he gets penalized by his size because he doesn’t get to the free-throw line nearly as much as what he should.”
Reading said the officials let the teams play so he knew he had to show his toughness in the fourth quarter. He said it is important to finish as best as possible through contact but also on the open shots, which Van-Far mostly did.
Van-Far’s win total with this senior class is around the usual number of wins. Last season, the Indians closed with 19 victories with two regular season games scheduled after Christian Fellowship and districts around the corner. Connaway said they can add more wins after showing their capabilities.
“They’re finding each other, and that’s what key,” Connaway said. “When teams want to go with junk defense, we’ve got kids who can shoot it. It makes it hard (for opponents), and it makes my job easier.”
Reading said he and his fellow seniors are aware that their time playing in a Van-Far uniform is almost over so they would like to make the most of it by winning out.
“The drive is there,” Reading said. “We’re realizing we have one game left on this home court (last Friday against Clopton). We grew up playing here, and for us seniors, we’ve been playing together since we were kindergartners. We’re going to try to be a good ballclub.”
Indians step up to win 54-34 vs Clopton, receive district No. 1 seed
Van-Far knew Friday would be a big night and came through.
The Indians defeated Eastern Missouri Conference and Class 2 District 5 foe Clopton 54-34 at home. Van-Far (18-7, 7-2 EMO) had a 23-14 lead at halftime in a rematch from 51-46 loss earlier this season and clinched the victory along with the No. 1 seed at Clopton (12-12, 4-4 EMO) in Clarksville.
Gaven Gaston led Van-Far with 17 points and five assists, Pacey Reading finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, Gibson Condie had 13 points, and Evan Utterback had 11 points and six rebounds.
Head coach Pat Connaway, who was honored by former players and family in his final home game as the program’s head coach, said he liked seeing others step when the leading scorer Reading struggled, finishing 7-for-15 from the free-throw line but hitting 5 of his last 6. Gaston was the leading scorer while creating scoring opportunities for others, Utterback scored 10 points in the second half, Condie scored 10 points in the second half and Kaleb Baskett gave good effort with sickness.
“When you can beat a very solid team by 20 and your offensive leader has an off night, that shows you are a pretty good ball club,” Connaway said. “It was a great way for our seniors to go out winning their final home game.”
