Despite having to play 12 extra minutes on Saturday night, Van-Far’s Nikos Connaway was at his most focused.

Van-Far vs Monroe City for Palmyra Third-Place Photo Gallery

Connaway scored 31 points in his first ever triple-overtime game to lead the Indians past Monroe City 68-66 in the Tony Lenzini tournament third-place game in Palmyra. Van-Far trailed 24-16 at halftime, and Connaway had two points after one half but hit clutch shot after clutch shot to give the Indians a chance.

"All of my guys have confidence in me, and I have confidence in myself," Connaway said. "I knew when we needed a bucket, I needed to get in the paint and make a layup."

Connaway had the go-ahead offensive putback prior to Monroe City (9-6) forcing overtime tied at 52, he tied the game at 58 to make a second overtime necessary, then he put in the go-ahead bucket after a steal before the third overtime happened with the game tied at 60, and then stole the ball again before drawing contact on the other end and hitting the game-winning free throw. The multiple-time all-conference and all-district player added seven steals, six assists and five rebounds to his night and accomplished all of this on a hurt ankle.

After rolling his ankle two weeks ago and then tweaking it the previous night in a 53-51 semifinal loss to Canton, Connaway said he had to have it double-wrapped with tape and braced but isn’t worried about it whenever he steps on the court. His father, head coach Pat Connaway, said that was hungriest and most locked in his son has been since sustaining the injury.

“When he’s locked in, he’s pretty good,” Pat Connaway said. “He makes everyone better. He has that chip on his shoulder so when the game is on the line, he wants the ball. We weren’t going to call timeout because he was coming with a head of steam, and we were letting him get to the rim.”

Connaway, who recalls having a double-overtime but never three overtimes in his 15 years of varsity experience, said when his son becomes that active on the offensive end, others tend to follow. Carter Jennings finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, Pacey Reading had 10 points, including seven after the first half, and Gaven Gaston added six points off the bench and pesky defense. Reading averaged 13.3 points in three tournament games.

Jennings, in particular, secured a key rebound when Quincy Mayfield missed both free throws in the third overtime when Van-Far led 67-66. During the game, all-state wide receiver Waylon DeGrave showed some physicality when pulling down a handful of offensive rebounds on his way to a team-high 15 points. Mayfield matched his total, and Cole Hays had 12 points and three 3-pointers off the bench.

Pat Connaway said physicality was the key factor in Van-Far’s previous loss to Canton and the 6-foot-7 Preston Brewer and the reason the Indians didn’t have a chance to defend their title. After halftime, Connaway said that wasn’t an issue anymore, even through the three overtimes, as the Indians on this night weren’t turning the ball over as much in transition and even earning 3-point play opportunities on the other end.

"It was a good win for us," Pat Connaway said. "I was really pleased that we matched physicality and got a lot more physical. That is stuff that can help us going forward. With Waylon DeGrave, we started fronting and switching screens. On rebounds, they were just stronger, shoving us out and getting us off-balance. We actually started keeping our balance, getting physical, going up and grabbing rebounds while being strong and getting outlets.”

On Jennings’ key rebound, he was fouled and hit one of two free throws after Mayfield missed two free throws for Monroe City as Pat Connaway called timeout to “freeze the shooter.” Connaway said he actually didn’t want him to make both free throws with mere seconds remaining to further limit Monroe City’s time to respond, but the victory was finally achieved.

“We called timeout and told Carter to miss because they had no timeouts left,” Pat Connaway said while laughing. “If they’re good enough with 1.1 to throw three-quarter court and make it, they deserve to win. He tries to leave it short and swishes it, so I guess my new method is to tell them to miss now.”

Monroe City wasn’t missing many 3-pointers during regulation, when the Panthers drained nine of their 11 3-pointers. Cole Hays and Marty Smyser each hit some 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and in the first overtime to make it harder for Van-Far to put the game away.

Nikos Connaway said the Indians tried to maintain an advantage, no matter how slim, in the extra periods to put extra pressure on Monroe City and prevent Van-Far from feeling too much in this uncharted territory.

“We knew we needed to win the tip and go get a bucket,” Nikos Connaway said. “We needed to have a lead in the overtime, and if they got the jump ball, we needed a quick stop and then go score. It takes the pressure off, makes them feel like they need to score, and we can lay back and calm down.”

Pat Connaway said the Indians needed to address all of the Monroe City shooters, which in turn helped them gain extra possessions that helped win the game.

“We told them to quit switching so I told Gage (Gibson) to quit going under them and instead stay right on  the shooter’s tail,” Pat Connaway said. “He started doing that, and they weren’t getting open. Unfortunately, Nikos got caught ball watching twice and got beat back door because we were getting ready to switch a screen. I can live with a couple of mistakes from him because he had huge steals tonight that got us the lead.”

DeGrave intercepted a long Van-Far inbound pass in the final seconds of regulation before finishing on the other end to tie the game at 52 and force overtime. Nikos Connaway, who is accustomed to defending passes during football season, made a leaping steal before drawing a foul and making it 67-66 at the free-throw line with 12.7 seconds left.

“I was just looking for them to skip it over the top,” Nikos Connaway said. “I was waiting in the lane just trying to jump the pass and make an easy layup to take the lead.”

The Indians switched their focus to another tournament this week in Bowling Green after they were finally able to breathe after a marathon victory. Pat Connaway said his son definitely made a significant impact statistically since Nikos averaged 22 points in three tournament games. However, he said Nikos shows his value even when Van-Far played its most basketball ever in one sitting.

“He was telling everybody to focus and lock in,” Pat Connaway said. “That’s the type of leadership we need out of him. I need to do everything on the court that he does, and I need him to be that vocal guy and not just lead by example. Those guys will follow, and they respect him.”