Champs turn up heat in final minute

Jacob Carkuff made 8-of-9 free throws against Huntland on Tuesday night and led Cascade in scoring with 24 points. (T-G Photo by Mary Beth Gunn) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

CULLEOKA -- When it came down to the wire, Cascade was hotter than Huntland for just a few more seconds in Tuesday night's Culleoka Classic contest. The Champions squashed the Hornets with a 67-64 win, improving their overall record to 7-5.

"Basketball is a game of runs," Cascade coach Charlie Pope said. "Everybody makes runs. We made ours, they made theirs. The important thing is who made the last run and who lasts the longest. Fortunately, we were a few seconds longer on our runs."

The first half was a tight ballgame. Cascade held a five-point advantage at the end of the first quarter at 16-11. They maintained this advantage during the second quarter and ended the half with a 31-26 advantage.

Cascade led the entire game and was able to triple their upper hand into a 50-35 advantage with only 20 seconds left in the third.

When the fourth quarter began, Huntland reached deep and found an untapped confidence which let them run and catch up to the Champs. They made five 3-pointers in the fourth to cut down Cascade's lead to 65-63 with 40 seconds left. Three of those 3s were by Huntland's leading scorer, Austin Williams, who contributed 20 points overall.

"They played hard and when you play hard, you make your own luck," Pope said. "They got to feeling good. A couple of kids who we had shut down most the game threw in a couple of 3s. Then the crowd got into it.

"It had all the makings for a tournament type atmosphere, which is what we wanted. We were just fortunate to come out with a win."

Jacob Carkuff and Gerald "Happy" Johnson both nailed their two free throws in the last minute to keep Huntland from sneaking in and stealing the game. Carkuff led the Champs with 24 points, making 8-of-9 free throws. Johnson also reached double-digits with 12 points, as did Christian Edmondson with 13.

Cascade returns to action on Jan. 6 against District 9-A rival Community in Unionville. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

"Community is going to be kind of like (Huntland)," Pope said. "They're going to play hard, they're going to spread you out and do lots of things. So it was a good game for us."