Post Photo by Chris Siers Zach Crosslin attacks the basket and finishes through contact on Tuesday at Forrest. He finished with a game-high 11 points.
By CHRIS SIERS
csiers@bedfordcountypost.com
CHAPEL HILL — A red-hot start by Cascade on Tuesday night at Forrest (3-17, 1-3) got the Champions back to .500 in the district standings.
The Champs (8-14, 3-3) had a complete-team effort on both ends of the court in the blowout 64-29 win.
“What I like is how we’re trending right now, playing more together, playing harder and more consistently. Tonight we jumped on them 25-1. We did a good job defensively guarding their stuff and communicating. We did a good job offensively on where we wanted to get shots. We had several guys step in and make shots. Just a total team effort,” Champion coach Chris Lawson said.
Everything was clicking for Cascade with 10 players scoring in the win.
The Champs got a 25-point effort in the first quarter and saw seven different players score in the opening frame, while defensively holding the Rockets to just a single point.
Saebyn Burris and Isaac McElroy attacked the paint to lead the inside game for the Champs, while Logan Pulley, Tyler Rodgers and Tucker McGee all connected on 3-pointers in the second.
While a torrid start got the Champs in good footing early in the game, the offense slowed a bit through the remaining three quarters.
And while the offense slowed a bit, Cascade still was able to execute both in transition and in the half-court to get back to .500 in the District 9-AA standings.
Zach Crosslin led Cascade with 11 points, while McGee added nine and Wickey Parker chipped in eight.
As a team, Cascade made good on eight 3-pointers and was an efficient 14-of-18 from the charity stripe.
Cascade steps out of district play on Friday night and has a tough task in facing the No. 1 ranked Class 1A team Santa Fe on the road.
“They’re good, (Andy) Slaughter is a good player, averaging around 35 a game or something like that. What you overlook at times is, all the focus goes to him. They have a couple other guys that are really good players. They just have a solid squad and we will definitely have our work cut out for us just to make it competitive,” Lawson said.
Cascade will tip-off against the Wildcats on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Cascade 25 12 15 12 — 64
Forrest 1 8 14 6 — 29
Cascade: Zach Crosslin 11, Tucker McGee 9, Wickey Parker 8, Saebyn Burris 7, Logan Pulley 7, Tyler Rodgers 7 Henry Stone 5, Isaac McElroy 4, Tristin Billings 3, Caden Hammonds 3.
Forrest: Tristan Good 9, Ben Villazon 6, Bray McCown 5, Jimmy Bond 3, Andruw Myers 2, Josh Doud 2, Kelley Tombs, Elija Leverette.
3-Point goals: Cascade (8): Pulley 2, Rodgers, Stone, McGee, Crosslin, Billings, Hammonds; Forrest (3): Villazon 2, Good.
Halftime score: Cascade 37, Forrest 9.
