
Tyler Rodgers drives inside and scores for the Champs. Rodgers had 12 points for Cascade. (Post Photo by Rickey Clardy)
By RICKEY CLARDY
Sports Writer
UNIONVILLE — The Cascade Champions used their quickness to move the ball and find open shots on offense as the Champs used a decisive third quarter to defeat the Community Vikings 72-55 in a District 9-2A and intra-county matchup Tuesday night.
Despite the loss, it was a memorable night for Viking Landon Lovvorn as he reached the 1,000-point plateau in his career.
Jaxson Williams scored the first two points as the Vikings took their only lead of the night 37 seconds into the game.
With the help of six points from Kaleb Kelso, five Champs tallied points as Cascade (11-7, 2-1 D9-2A) increased its advantage throughout the quarter. Josh Powers led Community (10-10, 0-3 D9-2A) with seven points as the Vikings scored the final three points to cut the Champion lead to 19-16 heading to the second quarter.
Kelso stayed hot with eight points, but the Vikings stayed close with the help of two treys from Lovvorn and five points from Austin Stickler.
A 7-0 run gave the Champs a 34-26 lead with 2:22 left before

Landon Lovvorn of the Vikings reaches 1,000 points in his career on a driving layup in the fourth quarter. (Post Photo by Rickey Clardy)
a 3-pointer by Lovvorn cut the Champion lead to 34-29 going into the intermission.
Stickler scored a field goal 15 seconds into the second half to cut the Champion lead to three, but all the points for the next three minutes belonged to Cascade as a 10-0 run gave the Champions a 44-31 lead.
With Jason Cullum scoring eight points and Tyler Rodgers netting seven, the Champs increased their margin and led 56-39 with one quarter to play.
With the Champs enjoying their lead, the attention turned to Lovvorn to see if the senior would reach 1,000 points.
After an injury in the third quarter, Lovvorn returned to the game in the final quarter.
A field goal with 5:57 to go left Lovvorn one point short before a breakaway layup at the 4:48 mark put him in the 1,000-point club.
The two field goals also completed a Viking 6-0 run as Community cut the Champion lead to 56-45.
But with Cullum adding eight points, the Champs put the game out of reach with eight consecutive points as Cascade went up 64-45 with 3:12 remaining.
The Champs took their biggest lead at 72-48 before Charles Haskins of the Vikings scored the final seven points of the game to cut the Champion winning margin to 17.
Kelso and Cullum each scored 20 points to lead the Champs while Tyler Rodgers had 12.
Haskins scored 16 points while Strickler netted 13 and Lovvorn had 10 to lead the Vikings.
The Champs finished with 11 treys and were 13-of-18 at the free throw line while the Vikings had five three-pointers and were 8-of-15 at the charity stripe.
Cascade travels to Cannon County while Community entertains Forrest in District 9-2A games Friday night.
Cascade 19 15 22 16 — 72
Community 16 13 10 16 — 55
Cascade: Jason Cullum 20, Kaleb Kelso 20, Tyler Rodgers 12, Henry Stone 6, Tyler Barrett 5, Cooper McElroy 5, Noah Watson 4, Tristin Billings, Jaxon Gulick, Ryder Pilkington, Preston Dunn.
Community: Charlie Haskins 16, Austin Stickler 13, Landon Lovvorn 10, Jaxson Williams 7, Zach Leathers, Josh Powers 9, Johnathan Lawwell, Moe Berman, Masyn Hill.
3-Point goals: Cascade (11): Kelso 5, Cullum 3, Rodgers, Barrett, McElroy; Community (5): Lovvorn 2, Haskins, Powers, Williams.
Halftime score: Cascade 34, Community 29.