Blake Van Der Schaaf is 29 years old and well fit at 6 feet, 3 inches and 200 pounds. He has all the appearances of a man without worry and, better yet, he coaches a heck of a boys basketball team at Central Valley Christian High.
But life found a sudden hitch Friday at about 4:30 p.m. in Selland Arena when he felt his heartbeat drop a gear or two.
"Slowed down," he said. "It was a little scary."
He never left the court after the second-quarter experience in the Cavaliers' Central Section Division V championship against Mission Prep, and examination by emergency medical technicians at halftime cleared him to continue.
And that led to yet another concern.
Top-seeded CVC had a 12-point lead hacked to three with six minutes remaining and Jerry Casey and Robbie Souza dominating the Cavs inside.
Still, Central Valley Christian held on for the 75-60 victory.
"Just had to score more points," Cavaliers senior guard Lance Reeves said. "I knew we would be fine."
It then appeared that simple for the floppy-haired leading scorer in school history as he made a baseline jumper, launching a 14-2 sprint to the wire for the victory.
Reeves made all 12 of his free throws while scoring 21 points, and sophomore guard Lance Van Grouw was 6 of 6 from the line while adding 20 as CVC (27-4) reversed a 59-53 loss at San Luis Obispo-based Mission Prep on Jan. 2.
The difference this time was the Cavs making 28 of 32 free throws compared with the Royals' 11 of 18.
Second-seeded Mission Prep (19-11) was whistled for 24 fouls compared with CVC's 15.
Affected most was Souza, who went scoreless in the first half while playing only 7 of a possible 16 minutes. He still managed to match his team-leading season average with 14 points.
Casey, who had four fouls, finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
"We make no excuses," Royals coach Terrance Harris said. "But it would have been nice to have our leading scorer on the court for more minutes."
CVC, ranked fourth in the state's D-V, will play at home and Mission Prep will travel Tuesday against Southern California Regional opponents that will be determined Sunday.
Prepared for any level of competition will be Reeves, who began this season with a 31-point effort in a 60-59 loss at section perennial D-I power Clovis West.
"That," Reeves said, "told us we could play with anybody."
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