Van Buren wins third straight District 6-A title

JASPER, Tenn. — It was the only thing that could’ve made Caden Mills put down the District 6-A tournament MVP plaque he held after leading Van Buren County to a resounding 74-53 championship win over Richard Hardy on Tuesday.

The lanky 6-foot-6 junior set aside his hardware and trotted to midcourt to meet his grandmother, who handed him a box of homemade chocolate oatmeal cookies.

“This is how I’ll celebrate on the ride home,” Mills said with a smile. “I’ll have to hide them or everybody on the team will want one, and this is one thing I don’t share.”

Mills, a certainty to be named all-state for a second straight season, had shared the ball and the spotlight enough early to allow the rest of his team to get involved. Then as he often does, he took control and helped the Eagles (236) pull away in the second half for their third straight district tournament title.

“We needed some other guys to step up and hit shots for us, and fortunately we had several guys who really did,” said Van Buren coach Dustin Sullivan, whose team had won the two regular-season meetings by an average of 35 points. “I kept hammering home to them before the game that the regular season, and what we’d done against that team before, nothing else mattered. Just this game.

“I thought our guys came out and really handled our business well.”

Five other Eagles besides Mills scored in the first half as they extended a four-point firstquarter lead to 12 by halftime and never allowed the advantage to dip below double digits the rest of the way.

“I’m very comfortable with anyone else on the team being able to step up and score,” said Mills, who finished with a game-high 27 points, with 19 in the second half. “Everybody has a role on our team, and in the second half I felt like I needed to be a little more aggressive and try to help us pull away.”

Richard Hardy, which was making its first appearance in a district title game in program history, was led by Simon Klompein’s 20 points and Allan Wynne’s 17.

Marion County’s boys defeated Sale Creek in the consolation game 73-64, led by Kane Hale’s 25 points.

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.