Document text
Challengers win fifth straight against Crusaders Cascade Christian senior Joel McLemore dives for the loose ball against St Mary's senior Gabe Mayer during the second quarter at Cascade Christian High on Friday. [ANDY ATKINSON/MAIL TRIBUNE] Saturday Jan 27, 2018 at 12:01 AM Kris Henry Mail Tribune @Kris_Henry Cascade Christian has consistently put a premium on defense and the first few minutes of play in each quarter, and each factor was key in boosting the host Challengers to a runaway, 54-42 win over St. Mary’s in Southern Cascade League boys basketball Friday. Leading 29-21 at intermission, Cascade Christian cranked up its defensive pressure to open the third quarter, in turn unleashing a transition attack that led to an 8-1 spurt that essentially put the game out of reach in the crosstown rivalry. “It was all defense for us,” said Challengers senior point guard Tyler Cochran, “and then we finally started running the break. Nobody can hang with us when we’re running the break, and that’s kind of what we tried to do. We always say the first four minutes after the half are important and that really helped us tonight.” Cochran scored 11 of his game-high 13 points in the first half, including three 3-pointers, and also finished with three rebounds and three assists. His stylish show-and-go transition layup off a long outlet by senior Ben Dunn capped the pivotal run and pushed the Challengers to a 37-22 advantage that was never threatened. “Tyler had some great moves and was knocking down some big 3s early for us,” said Cascade Christian head coach Brian Morse, whose team won its fifth straight over St. Mary’s. “He kind of makes everything happen for us.” Dunn finished with 11 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists for Cascade Christian (12-7, 5-0 SCL), while senior Cristian Flores-Alatorre added 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists and senior Joel McLemore had eight points, four rebounds and three assists. “We try to and pass up a good shot for a greater shot, that’s kind of our motto,” Cochran said of Friday’s balanced attack. “I think we did a good job with that tonight.” Jakab Bowling had 11 points and fellow senior Weston Grant came off the bench for seven points to help lead St. Mary’s (9-11, 3-2), which lost 64-37 in the first matchup between the teams on Jan. 5 and gave the Challengers all they wanted in the first half. “We go through some scoring droughts and that’s been our Achilles’ heel,” said St. Mary’s head coach Kevin Dixon. “Like in the third quarter (when St. Mary’s was outscored 12-6), we had shots and we just missed them. But we’re getting better defensively and played them a lot better than we did the first time.” St. Mary’s led 10-8 after a 3-pointer by junior Gavin Rajagopal before the Challengers answered with a 7-2 run to close out the first quarter. In the second quarter, Cochran took over with an assist and consecutive treys to help maintain control for Cascade Christian. The Challengers also got an energy boost with the return of senior guard Kyle Reece in the second quarter, when he added a block, steal, assist and rebound to liven up an already spirited crowd at Cascade Christian High. Reece had been out with an ankle injury for the past month. “We kind of wanted to ease him back into it,” said Morse, “but I think there’s no easing with him. He just goes full throttle and he got us some good tips and defensive plays that got us going.” With the Challengers clamping down on defense, the Crusaders’ offense went cold. St. Mary’s had only one made field goal in the second quarter and two in the third quarter, going a combined 3-for-14 in that span to cost the Crusaders any hopes of an upset. Overall, St. Mary’s was 12-for-33 from the field, including 4-for-15 from 3-point range. “They run that zone and we were struggling a little bit to get the ball inside,” said Dixon. “That’s what happens, people run zone and then people start jacking up 3s and that’s kinda what happened for us. We went through three or four minutes where we can’t score, and against them you can’t do that.” Still, Dixon said he was pleased with how hard the Crusaders played to the end and with their growth since the last matchup against Cascade Christian. Morse agreed. “They came out with a lot of intensity and both teams were playing tough,” said Morse. “St. Mary’s hit a couple big 3s and they’ve improved a lot, which is good because it makes the competition even better. I thought they played really hard for the entire game.” Seniors Gabe Mayer and Justin Silsbee each had six points, freshman Nathan Sternenberg added five points and five rebounds and sophomore Trevahn Foster pulled in six rebounds for St. Mary’s. Cascade Christian finished 21-for-47 from the field to complete the regular-season sweep of the Crusaders. “It was a good game,” said Cochran. “With it being a rivalry game there’s always a little bad blood out there, but it wasn’t bad. They put up a fight but we came through.” ST. MARY’S (42): Bowling 11, Grant 7, Mayer 6, Silsbee 6, Sternenberg 5, Rajagopal 5, Foster 2, Miles 0, Snyder 0, Hadley 0. Totals: 12-33 14-21 42. CASCADE CHRISTIAN (54): Cochran 13, Dunn 11, Flores-Alatorre 10, McLemore 8, Dexter 6, H. Schaan 2, K. Schaan 2, West 2, Reece 0, Crowl 0, Lewis 0, Collom 0. Totals: 21-47 8-11 54. St. Mary’s;12;9;6;15;—;42 Cascade Christian;15;14;12;13;—;54 3-point goals — St. Mary’s 4-15 (Mayer 2, Rajagopal 1, Bowling 1), Cascade Christian 4-14 (Cochran 3, Dunn 1). Reach reporter Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected], www.facebook.com/krishenryMT or www.twitter.com/Kris_Henry