Van-Far

Reading career-highs lift Van-Far boys to 79-68 shootout win over Elsberry

By Jeremy Jacob, Sports Editor
Posted 1/17/25

Pacey Reading and the Van-Far boys hadn’t played in a little more than two weeks.

Van-Far vs Elsberry Photo Gallery

Reading was still hot from the field on Monday night at home as he …

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Van-Far

Reading career-highs lift Van-Far boys to 79-68 shootout win over Elsberry

Posted

Pacey Reading and the Van-Far boys hadn’t played in a little more than two weeks.

Van-Far vs Elsberry Photo Gallery

Reading was still hot from the field on Monday night at home as he drained a career-high seven 3-pointers on the way to a career-high 37 points to lead the Indians to a 79-68 win over Eastern Missouri Conference foe Elsberry (3-6, 0-2 EMO). After one half, Reading had 25 points and five 3-pointers to give Class 2 No. 10 Van-Far  (12-1, 4-0 EMO) a big offensive boost early.

“I had some open shots, and playing at home helps,” Reading said. “I shoot here all the time. It was rolling tonight. I was looking to shoot, I had some screens to get open, I got open and I made the shot.”

Head coach Pat Connaway said starting point guard Gaven Gaston sat out the first half due to a coaches’ decision after missing some practices, which made the Indians adjust to his absence. Gaston handles the ball primarily as the point guard, finding open opportunities for his teammates, and also is pesky on the defensive end.

Van-Far led Elsberry 41-33 at halftime, maintaining a lead near or at double-digits during the first half. The Indians eventually pushed their lead to its biggest of 19 points in the second half, but Reading gave them the offense they needed and then some.

“Pacey is one of them, when he sees one go in, he just gets in that rhythm,” Connaway said.” “When Gaven’s in, he really makes us go. He gets us out in transition, he can really push the floor and finds things to make people better. When Pacey got off to that start in the first half, it was a great transition.”

Connaway noticed some of Reading’s shots were “rather deep,” specifically a few feet beyond the arc at the top of the key. Reading nailed three straight at that long range from the end of the first quarter into the start of the second quarter.

Reading said he is confident even at that long range as many hours and many shots were taken in that same gym in his career.

“In the offseason, I come in here shooting 100-200 shots a day,” Reading said. “That’s what it takes. Backing up a bit, it’s a tougher shot, but if you’re a good shooter, it will go in.”

“The fact they weren’t stepping out to guard him surprised me,” Connaway said. “He’s going to hit them all day.”

Carson Huff followed Reading’s huge night with an impressive 19 points and three 3-pointers, and Kasen Christian was also in double figures with 10 points to go along with six rebounds. Reading didn’t need to take as many shots in the second half when the Indians spread the scoring between five players in the third quarter and then six players in the fourth quarter.

Connaway said Van-Far typically shoots the ball well at home, and the snow last week only caused the Indians to miss one day in the gym as they planned accordingly to avoid too much rust.

Van-Far has scored at least 78 points in three games this season. All three have happened within a span of five games, which Reading said was just what the Indians needed to counter a sharp Elsberry.

“They put the ball in the hole tonight,” Reading said. “Our goal is 50+ every night and keep our defense around 50. We gave up more than what we’d like, but they hit some tough shots.”

Deavion Dodson finished with 26 points for Elsberry while Nolan Wilson followed with 16 points and Noah Hausgen had 10 points. Wilson scored 15 of his points in the first half.

Connaway said the strategy didn’t work out like he hoped against Elsberry. Dodson proved to be too tough to handle at times for the Indians, adding having Gaston for the full game could’ve helped. He complimented Reading’s work on Wilson in the second half.

“We were supposed to take Dodson’s left hand away and make him go right,” Connaway said. “He got middle on us, and he got downhill. Getting to the rim is his strength. He was quicker than us.”

Van-Far plays at conference foe Bowling Green (6-2, 2-0 EMO) at 7 p.m. tonight.


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