The Van-Far boys hadn’t played in almost two weeks on Thursday.
The Indians were still able to snap a five-game losing streak at Eastern Missouri Conference foe Elsberry with a 56-48 …
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The Van-Far boys hadn’t played in almost two weeks on Thursday.
The Indians were still able to snap a five-game losing streak at Eastern Missouri Conference foe Elsberry with a 56-48 victory, outscoring Elsberry 28-16 in the second half.
After the first two minutes, head coach Pat Connaway said Van-Far (9-2, 4-0 EMO) hit a wall after dealing with prolonged time off because of cancellations earlier in the week due to winter weather and injuries. Among the wounded were Connaway’s son and star senior Nikos Connaway, who still isn’t at 100 percent but still scored 12 points, and Pacey Reading, who was big down the stretch for the Indians as he finished with 21 points.
“Offensively, Pacey had a very nice night leading us with 21 and hitting several big shots to keep us in the game and also to take or extend the lead,” Connaway said. “While it wasn’t our best effort, it was good enough to steal a road win at a place that is extremely difficult to play at.”
Carter Jennings finished with eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds, Carson Huff had seven points and four rebounds after missing a week with sickness, and Gage Gibson had five rebounds and grabbed key offensive rebounds, Connaway said.
Van-Far just barely shot better than Elsberry (5-10, 1-2 EMO) at 43.5 percent, compared to 41.7 percent, and made 12-for-14 free throws. Connaway said the Indians showed some fight before halftime by cutting their deficit to 32-28 going into the intermission.
“In the locker room, we talked about communication, committing to defense — all the things we talked about on Dec. 30 when we played Macon (63-40 win in Van-Far’s previous game),” Connaway said. “Nothing really changed except our mindset, and we have to have the defensive mindset all the time if we want to be able to win big games.”
Van-Far defends its title this week at Palmyra’s Tony Lenzini tournament, starting in the first round at 6 p.m. tonight against Clark County (5-7).
The Lady Indians (1-11, 0-4 EMO) lost 53-40 to Elsberry (8-5, 1-1 EMO) in the previous game on Thursday and then was defeated 69-37 by No. 1 seed and Class 3 No. 5 Palmyra (10-2) on Monday in the Tony Lenzini tournament's first round. Van-Far plays Highland (8-4) at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
