(Picture via Borden Athletics)

Kasym Nash exploded for 51 points on November 21 against Eastern (Pekin) in a 77-53 victory. The total points are staggering, but the way Nash accumulated them was equally impressive.

“It was just one of those nights,” Borden head coach Doc Nash said. “I just expect my kids to play hard; that’s just an expectation of Borden basketball. In terms of an expectation for Kasym, he’s our guy and expected to score a lot. He’s not expected to get 50 every night; that’s unheard of, but he is going to take some of our big shots.”

Nash tallied a 43-point game last year as a junior, so high-scoring games are nothing new to the Borden product. However, he scored the first 24 points for Borden against Eastern.

“I’ve had a couple,” Kasym said about his large scoring stretches. “Last year in the sectional championship against Rock Creek we had 14 or 16 points at halftime, and I had all of them. There are certain stretches where I go ‘Okay, I need to take over the game.’ It’s a mindset.”

Nash made his first five shots from the field to give Borden the lead, and the Braves never surrendered it.

“He made his first one, then he made his second, and it kept going,” said Coach Nash. “He carried himself differently. It was fun to watch.”

“I wanted to show them who I really was,” said Kasym Nash. “The last three years, I was kind of just there, a normal player.

The senior guard scored in every way imaginable — drives, stop and pops in the mid-range, threes coming off screens, free throws. Nash showed his improved repertoire.

“Freshman and sophomore year, I was just out there shooting threes and not doing anything off the dribble,” said Kasym. “Then, last year, people started taking that away much more. In my sophomore year, I would try to drive it and over drive it into bad positions. Junior year, I learned how to get to the free throw line and more off the dribble stuff opened up a lot of scoring opportunities.”

“Freshman year, he was a beneficiary player,” said Doc. “He made 71 threes on over 40 percent shooting, but he did not have to create his own shot. His sophomore year was mostly the same, but he learned to play off the bounce a bit. Last year as a junior, he upped his points per game and really learned how to score at three different levels.”

Now that Nash is scoring off the dribble and drawing fouls, he is looking to take the next step with his offensive game.

“My secondary moves,” said Kasym about what he is adding to his game next. “After I get going one way, trying to make another move knowing that another defender is coming at me. I saw box-and-one [defenses] last year, and now there are two defenders coming at me when I dribble it. So, I need to work on another move that is effective in either getting my teammates the ball or to provide for myself.”

After scoring 32 first-half points, Nash pushed Borden to a 42-21 halftime lead, and the Braves cruised in the second half.

The efficiency of Nash never dropped against Eastern. He finished 18-29 from the field, including 5-10 from three, and 10-13 at the free throw stripe.

Borden lost to the eventual state champion, North Daviess, in the regional title game in 2022. Last year, the Braves suffered a heartbreaking 47-46 loss to Rock Creek Academy in the sectional championship game. That game remains on the mind of Nash and the Borden program.

“Our goal is to win the sectional and advance in the state tournament,” said Doc. “Our goal is to be playing our best basketball in March. We look a little different, and we might have to play a little bit differently than we want to.”

Borden started this season 3-0 before dropping Saturday’s game against Providence. The Pioneers are one of the best 2A programs in the state.

Nash and Borden still have high hopes for the season.

“I’m close to individual records, but I care more about the team and winning than I do myself,” said Kasym.

“We want to win the conference; that’s a goal every year. I’ve won the conference MVP the last two years, so it is a goal of mine to win that as a senior. And then, obviously, the biggest goal is the sectional. I think our sectional is up for grabs for three or four teams this year, and last year, I think we should have got it but came up short with the last-second shot.”

The 47-46 loss to Rock Creek in the sectional comes up frequently with the Borden team and the Nash household.

“We do talk about it quite often. My dad, being the coach, and I’ve talked about it several times, and combined, we’ve probably watched that game 15 or 20 times. We talk about the things that went good and things that went wrong, and we still get sick to our stomachs about it.”

Nash is receiving small-college recruiting attention. Manchester is the team recruiting him the hardest at the moment, and he also took a trip to Huntington University.

“Once he gets an opportunity, he’s not going to blow it,” said Doc. “He’ll be an asset to whoever picks him up, but he wants to play the game, and we are going to do everything in our power to make that happen.”

The high-academic prospect is determined to play at the next level and wants to stay involved in the game long-term. Sports management is a possible major. He worked the broadcast of a girls’ basketball game last week.

“Being around sports is very important to me. The game of basketball is what I want to be around, so if I was a coach one day, I wouldn’t be complaining about it.”