Final Seconds Decide It: Community Vikings and Cascade Champions Fall in Tight Contests in 9-AA basketball semifinals.

Loretto 45 – Community 41

The Vikings knew that holding Loretto‘s Mason Tidwell in check would play a major factor in determining the end result of the game. Tidwell scored the first four points of the game, giving the Mustangs an early 4–0 lead. Jaxon Williams would finally put the Vikings on the board with a basket halfway through the first quarter to cut the lead to 4-2. Tidwell once again respond with another basket extending a red lead to 6–2 with 3:30 left to go. Williams would immediately respond for the Vikings to draw his team back to within two at 6-4. Cam Andrews would respond for Loretto with a three to extend the lead up to 9–4 with just over two minutes to go. Charlie Haskins would then score his first four points of the game, followed by a Karson Boyce field goal with seven seconds remaining tying the game at 12 heading to the second stanza.

Williams would give the Vikings their first lead of the game at 14-12 early in the second quarter only to see Cooper Burleson hit back to back three-point baskets allowing Loretto to regain the lead. Community’s Charlie Haskins would hit back to back field goals of his own once again which tied the game at 20 followed by a quick basket by Jonathan Lawwell putting the Vikings back ahead again by two before Tidwell would add a field goal to even the score. Community would have a late flurry over the last two minutes and thirty seconds led by two baskets by Haskins and a pair of field goals by Williams and Josh Powers to give the Vikings their largest lead of the game 30–24 with one minute left to go before intermission. Kylon Wilkerson would immediately respond for the Mustangs bringing the  score to 30–26 heading to the locker room.

Loretto would waste no time regaining the lead early in the third quarter with Tidwell adding a bucket followed by a three pointer by Wilkerson allowing the Mustangs to regain the lead 31–30. Both teams continued to exchange baskets with Community clinging to a 36-33 lead with just over two minutes to go in the third quarter. The last two minutes would belong to Loretto, as Wilkerson would drain a pair of free throws, followed by a three-point basket by Tidwell allowing the Mustangs to regain the lead 38–36 with just under a minute left in the third stanza. An offensive rebound by Wilkerson allowed him to add two more points at the buzzer giving Loretto a 40–36 lead heading into the final quarter.

Neither team was able to get much going over the final eight minutes of the game. Jaden Aaron had a pair of free throws to extend the Mustang lead to 42–36 with just over seven minutes remaining. Community’s Andrew Tocchio nailed a three-pointer moments later to narrow the margin to three at 42–39. Both teams would go without a basket over the next three minutes with Cam Andrews adding a basket to put Loretto up 44–39 with 3:40 left to play. Williams would score the Vikings last points of the game to get back to within three, at 44-41 with 2:28 remaining. The last two minutes saw Community applying pressure in hopes of creating a turnover that would allow them the opportunity to cut into the lead and possibly tie the game with a three-pointer. A couple of missed opportunities followed by a foul sent Tidwell to the line for two shot with 10.9 seconds remaining in the game. Tidwell connected on the first of two free throws extending the lead to 45-41 for the Mustangs, putting the game out of reach. The loss sends the Vikings into the consolation game on Saturday where they will face Cascade at 4:30, who lost in another thriller in the second contest of the evening.

Viking head coach Hunter Ferrell felt the game would be very competitive but understandably was disappointed with coming up just short. “ They (Loretto) are very good, very tough, and fundamentally sound. We knew the game would likely come down to one or two possessions and unfortunately for us they made a few more plays than us and got the timely rebound when it mattered most” Ferrell stated.

Charlie Haskins and Jaxon Williams led the Vikings with 12 points apiece. Mason Tidwell led the Mustangs with 14 points followed by Kyler Wilkerson with eleven.

Community: 12-18-6-5—-41

Loretto :         12-14-14-5—45

Community: Jonathan Lawell-4, Charlie Haskins-12, Jaxon Williams- 12, Josh Powers-2, Masyn Hill-2, Andrew Tocchio-3, Karson Boyce-6, Thompson.

Loretto: Cam Andrews-7, Kylon Wilkerson- 11, Mason Tidwell- 14, Jayden Aaron-4, Cooper Burleson-9, Springer, Fisher, Franklin.

Halftime Score: Community 30 Loretto 26

Three Point Baskets

Community-1: Tocchio.

Loretto- 6: Andrews 1, Wilkerson 1, Tidwell 1, Burleson 3.

Records: Community 16-11, Loretto 15-9

Summertown 49 – Cascade 46

Cascade and Summertown had a tough act to follow after the first game of the evening, and neither team disappointed.

Cascade jumped out to an early 2–0 lead on a basket by Caleb Kelso. Summer town, Lleyton Sherman would open the scoring for the Eagles hitting a three pointer to take a 3–2 lead with 4:40 remaining. Ryder Pilkington, which scored his first points of the night for the Champions giving Cascade a 4–3 lead before Summertown’s Andrew Mabry would score to give the Eagles a slim 5–4 lead at the midway point of the first quarter. Cooper McElroy hit his first of 3 three-point shots on the evening, followed by another basket by Henry Stone that would put Cascade ahead 9–5 before Sherman would nail a three to cut the deficit to one at the two minute mark. Moments later, Cascade Senior Tristan Billings, would score followed by a McElroy three-pointer to give the Champions a 14–8 lead with just over a minute to go in the first quarter. Summertown would close out the last minute of the stanza with baskets by Graham Howell and Sawyer Sherman slimming the Cascade lead to 14–12 going to the second quarter.

Cascade Senior Henry Stone would have a strong second quarter scoring 6 of his 10 points in the contest during the span. A free throw by senior Tyler Rodgers  along with a McElroy basket with just 30 seconds remaining before intermission would send the teams to the locker room deadlocked at 23.

Cascade led by sophomore post Ryder Pilkington would score his teams first two baskets in the second half giving the Champions a 27–23 lead with just under six minutes remaining. McElroy would continue his strong showing in the second half scoring seven of Cascade’s 13 third-quarter points including a three-pointer and two free throws. However, the Eagles would not go away. Led by the Sherman brothers, Lleyton and Sawyer, who would combine for 30 of Summertown’s 49 points in the game, helped keep the back-and-forth battle even with both teams tied at 36 heading to the final stanza.

The final quarter would set up to be a game of small runs by each team. Summertown would score the first six points of the frame with Sawyer Sherman connecting for four of the six points to give his team a 42- 36 lead with just over four minutes left. Cascade would respond with a 8–0 run regaining the lead, with Caleb Kelso, scoring five of his seven points in the game during this span, including a three to go with another basket by Stone to go up 44–42 with just over two minutes remaining. Lleyton Sherman would one again respond with another three pointer with 1:47 remaining to regain the lead at 45–44 with 1:28 to go. Stone would put the Champions back ahead 46–45 with 1:28 remaining. Once again Lleyton Sherman would come up big for the Eagles nailing a shot to go ahead 47–46 with 1:13 left. A few uncharacteristic mistakes by Cascade left the Champions having to foul to stop the clock and send the Eagles to the free throw line. Lleyton Sherman connected on one of two foul shots with 24.5 seconds remaining, extending Summertown‘s lead to 48–46. This gave the Champions an opportunity to either tie or take the lead with time running down. They were unable to take advantage of this opportunity and once again had to foul after a Summertown rebound, sending Graham Howell to the line with five seconds remaining. Howell connected on one of two free froze to go up by three with Cascade missing a three pointer at the buzzer to tie the game to force overtime, giving Summertown the 49–46 victory and a trip to the championship game on Saturday.

Cascade head coach Douglas Worsley was very proud of his teens effort following the game, but was obviously disappointed with the outcome in a contest that could have gone either way. “ We had a couple of mistakes late in the game that really put us in a bad spot. You can’t make mistakes against a top five ranked team in the state and expect to come out with the victory. We were right there at the end, which is what you can expect when two teams as evenly matched as we are playing to reach a district championship game. I’m very proud of my guys and know that they are just as disappointed as I am. We have a short time to recover from this and get ready for Community tomorrow night which I expect to be another tight game just as most of the games in this district have been all year”, Worsley concluded.

McElroy led the Cascade in scoring with 15 points followed by Kelso with seven followed by Rodgers and Pilkington both adding six each. P Summertown was led in scoring by Lleyton and Sawyer Sherman who finished with 17 and 16 points respectively.

Cascade will battle Community and the boys consolation game following the girls consolation between the same two schools. Game time is set for approximately 4:30.

Cascade-           14-9-13-10——46

Summertown – 12-11-13-13——49

Cascade- Tristin Billings-2, Kaleb Kelso-7, Henry Stone- 10, Cooper McElroy-15, Ryder Pilkington- 6, Rodgers-6, Watson, Jones, Barrett.

Summertown- Andrew Mabry-4, Blackwood-5, Graham Howell-7, Lleyton Sherman-14, Max Dillard-3, Sawyer Sherman- 16, Heavenly, Springer, Holt.

Halftime Score: Cascade 23 Summertown 23

Three-Point baskets: Cascade 5- Kelso-1, McElroy-3, Rodgers 1. Summertown 4- Blackwood-1, L. Sherman-3

Records: Cascade 15-12 Summertown 20-5

Community Senior Jaxon Williams (5) goes up for two of his twelve points in the District 9-AA semifinal versus Loretto. The Vikings lost a close contest.

Cascade Sophomore Cooper McElroy (14) connects on one of his three made three point shots in a 49-46 loss to Summertown in the District 9-AA boys semifinal game at Cascade High School. McElroy would would finish with fifteen points.