Bloomfield Christmas Tournament: Van Buren makes school history with Cinderella run

BLOOMFIELD — For the first time in school history, Van Buren’s boys basketball team advanced to the final four of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.

While the sixth-seeded Bulldogs ultimately fell to second-seeded East Prairie in the semifinals and to Puxico in Friday night’s third-place contest, Van Buren coach Jacob Black praised his team’s resiliency.

“We’re under new territory. I’ve got five seniors on the team and they’ve battled throughout their lives, but they’ve just never got to this point,” Black said. “We’ve got some younger kids and (the seniors) have stepped up and helped them. We’re just finding ways to win, we’re finding ways to stay resilient and we just keep playing to the very end.”

Black was a member of Van Buren’s 1992 state championship-winning team. Despite winning a state title, the Bulldogs finished sixth in the BCT.

“1992 was my junior year in high school, and a really cool story about that is we got beat in the fifth-place consolation game, but we went on and won a state championship that year,” Black said. “Those teammates of mine, I’ve got some of their kids on this year’s team. (I enjoy) coaching my teammates’ kids, and it’s really a special moment for me.”

Van Buren has five seniors who play with a chip on their shoulder. None of them are the team’s leading scorer and only two of them start, but each of them still contributes heavily.

“Growing up as junior high kids, nobody ever gave them much credit. When they got into high school they kind of muddled their way through it,” Black said. “They worked hard in the offseason, they’ve grown and they’ve gotten stronger. Everybody just kind of overlooked them.”

Black recalled an instance when his seniors were still in elementary school that helped fuel the group as they got older.

“I’m not going to name any names, but our driving force with that group is when they were in probably fifth or sixth grade, we had a gentleman from another community come up to us, shook our hands and said, ‘Someday you’ll get there,’” Black said. “That’s kind of been our driving force for many, many years. I’ve had these kids since they’ve been in sixth grade, and that’s just kind of been our driving force. We’re going to get there because they’re just hard workers, they’re great teammates, they’ve got great hearts and I can’t say enough about them.”

Van Buren’s starting seniors are Benjamin Hawkins and Holden Hills, while Danner Nicholson, Travis Snider and Jesse Dunn come off the bench. Hawkins leads the group of seniors with seven points and four rebounds per game while Hills posts similar numbers with six points and four rebounds.

The Bulldogs are led offensively by junior Elijah Van Wagner, who was averaging 18.5 points and six rebounds per game prior to their semifinal matchup with East Prairie.

Sophomore Hayes Townsley follows just behind Van Wagner with 14 points per game.

While his players do well individually, the Bulldogs’ team effort is what Black takes pride in. Through the BCT quarterfinals, Van Buren averaged 65 points per game while its opponents’ averaged 54 points per game, a difference of 11 points.

“I don’t really like singling out any one person,” Black said. “I don’t think we are a one-man show. I think we’re a team and even the guys that don’t get on the floor, they play a huge role being on that bench and trying to give us energy and everything. We are definitely the definition of a team this year.”

Overall, Black is thankful for his players and the opportunity to coach the sport he loves.

“God blesses us every day,” Black said. “I’m fortunate enough to be around a great admin and a great school. I’m blessed to have great kids. It’s really fun.”