Although he’s 6-foot-5, Van Buren County’s Caden Mills is so slightly built, he looks like he’d have a tough time bench pressing his own shadow.
But the lanky sophomore put his team – and an entire basketball-crazy community – on his narrow shoulders and carried them to a second straight Region 3-A championship Thursday night.
With the weight of the game’s outcome seemingly riding on each possession, Mills scored 13 consecutive points during the second half to lead the Eagles to a 53-47 win over stubborn Marion County at Arts & Sciences.
“I saw us going into a hole and we were getting nervous, so I just knew I had to do my best to make sure we didn’t lose,” said Mills, who finished with a game-high 27 points, scoring 14 of that total in the decisive fourth quarter. “Age means nothing this time of year. We’ve played in some tough games, some big games, and we know how to stay calm and get it done.”
Van Buren (26-5) will host Jackson County (17-12) in Monday’s state sectional round, while Marion County (19-8) travels to Clay County (30-2). Clay County defeated Jackson County 64-53 Thursday in the Region 4-A title game.
Although Marion never led, the Warriors simply refused to let the Eagles pull away as they had in three previous meetings.
Van Buren had won by at least 14 points in each of those prior games, but after building a nine-point lead early in Thursday’s first quarter, the lead was never greater than eight points in the second half – and until the Eagles connected on four straight free throws in the final 20 seconds, the lead was never more than five for the final 10 minutes of the game.
“This was a testament to our seniors and just how they’re not ready for their season to be over,” said Warriors coach Chuck Keef, whose team was led by Logan Walters’ 20 points and Matt Harveston’s 19, with both players hitting two 3-pointers. “If we had won, this would’ve been our program’s first region championship, and we were right there. I’m very proud of the way our kids played.”
Three times the Warriors pulled within one point and twice they had the ball with the chance to take the lead, but each time Van Buren’s defense closed that door. Twice in the fourth quarter, Mills made steals in the backcourt and turned those into quick layups, and he also nailed a key 3-pointer with just more than two minutes remaining and his team ahead by only two.
“Familiarity can create games like this,” Van Buren coach Dustin Sullivan said. “We’ve played each other so many times, not just the three we had already played this year but so many through the last few years with a lot of the same players. We’re on a first-name basis now when we talk about who’s guarding who.
“It was touch and go, a very physical game, and Caden doesn’t have much muscle on him, but he has such composure in close games. He doesn’t play like a sophomore. He knows when it’s time to take over and how to do it.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.