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Vandalia wins fifth straight over Southwestern, 67-43

 

Vandalia kept things rolling Friday night, picking up its fifth straight victory and its fourth straight conference win, defeating Southwestern handily, 67-43.  
Now with nine wins, Vandalia head coach Brian Buscher is more than happy with his team’s run of late.
“They are playing with so much confidence that the best you can do as a coach is to just get out of the way. They are playing with so much confidence you just don’t want to (mess with anything),” Buscher said. “It’s like a hitter on a hitting streak – don’t say anything to them, don’t tell them they are on a hitting streak, just let them go.”
The Vandals jumped out to a 15-7 lead, as Kain DuFaux knocked down a three from the top of the key, late in the first quarter. A Southwestern bucket to close out the first cut the Vandal lead to six heading into the second.
A pair of layups by DuFaux and Nathan Casey to open the second extended the Vandals’ lead to 10. Richie Well kept things going later in the second, pulling up for a three in transition as the Vandals led with two minutes in the second, 28-15.  Five more points from Well helped him close out the first half with 16 points and the Vandals leading, 35-17.
“At halftime, I praised them on how well they were doing defensively and boxing out. I thought we did a tremendous job rebounding. I got a little nitpicky on one of their plays, just trying to keep praising them,” Buscher said. “The keys to the game were rebounds, play with energy,  play with enthusiasm and be great and play great.”
There was no letdown in the second half, with Vandalia opening the third with an 11-2 run, continuing to make long transition passes for easy buckets, something Buscher said has really helped fuel the current winning streak.
“There were only a couple (of long passes) where we fumbled it or threw it off another guy or threw it off our own foot, but when Kelly Jones is out running, Richie Well is out running and Nathan Casey is out running. I told people in the huddle, ‘Did you ever think Nathan Casey would beat people down the floor and he is,” Buscher said. “We are still getting good shots and that’s the key.  I called one timeout because I thought we were getting tired, and I called one timeout because I thought we were getting a little too hectic, but we were playing under control even though we were pushing it. A coach once told me, ‘The team that gets the most easy buckets wins.’”
Vandalia continued to pull away, with Kelly Jones hitting a layup to close out the third leading, 54-25.
From there, Vandalia was able to coast to its fifth win in a row, with all five starters recording at least five points.
“I don’t think we shot extremely well tonight, but we made a lot of buckets in transition, so that skews the numbers a little bit. Offensively, I don’t think we shot lights out, but we were hitting shots, getting post touches and kicking it out. Nathan Casey had a nice post touch to Garrett McNary, who was sitting on the line. That’s the kind of action we want,” Buscher said. “We want Kelly Jones cutting to the bucket, Richie and Nathan popping out and Nathan to work inside as well. We want Kain to work inside. So, they know their roles and have accepted him. It’s nice when everything works.”
Sitting at 9-17 on the season, Vandalia was scheduled to continue action Tuesday (see related story) against Roxana before closing out the season at home against Carlinville on Friday.
“We (just) need to be careful and make sure we take care of the ball, especially in transition,” Buscher said. “We are going to keep pushing and getting those shots while we can and if we can’t, I think we showed offensively, we can execute stuff in the half court as well. That’s a good sign.”

Vandalia vs. Southwestern
VA  15  20  19  13  67
SW  9  8  8  18  43
VA:
Well 8 2-2 20, Casey 6 3-4 16, DuFaux 5 0-0 11, Jones 4 1-1 9, McNary 2 0-0 5, Marcus Zimmerman 2 0-2 4, Trevor Smalls 1 0-0 2. Totals: 28(5) 6-9 67. Three-pointers: Well 2, Casey, McNary, DuFaux. Fouls: 13

Kelly Jones goes up for a basket inside Friday night. Jones finished with 9 points in the Vandals fifth straight victory.

Nathan Casey puts in a layup in transition Friday night. Casey finished with 16 points in the Vandalia win.

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