The Van-Far boys needed a more physical second half for the second straight Saturday. The Indians defeated Eastern Missouri Conference and district foe Clopton (14-5) 62-46 on Saturday to win their first Bowling Green tournament championship since 2018 after trailing 28-23 at halftime.
“We weren’t very aggressive in the first half,” head coach Pat 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.”
Pacey Reading was named to all-tournament team along with Nikos Connaway after Reading finished with 16 points and five rebounds and averaged 20.7 points in three games this week. Reading was 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.”
Connaway led the Indians (14-3) with 19 points, nine rebounds and three steals and had back-to-back 3-point plays to give Van-Far a 52-38 lead about halfway through the fourth quarter.
“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.”
Carson Huff added nine points, including seven in the second half. Carter Jennings had five rebounds, four assists and two 3-pointers.
Van-Far (4-0 EMO) plays at conference foe and Class 3 No. 10 Montgomery County (15-4, 5-0 EMO) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Look for the full story in the Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, edition of the Mexico Ledger.
