Champs overcome slow start vs. Moore Co.

CHAPEL HILL -- The manner in which it happened wasn't what they had in mind, but they'll take the end result any day of the week.

Second-seeded Cascade trailed for the first 18 minutes of its first-round District 9-A tournament matchup with seventh-seeded Moore County but rebounded late to win 56-46 on Saturday night.

The Champions (15-10) overcame a six-point deficit as the close of the first half neared to extend their season three games, including a berth in their seventh straight region tournament under coach Charlie Pope. They wiped off some of the cobwebs that come with not having played since winning at Eagleville on Feb. 5 to do so.

"I don't necessarily think it was anybody looking over anybody because it's Moore County-Cascade, it's rivalry basketball just like most of the games in this district are," Pope said. "Some of it has to do with the fact that we hadn't played since last Friday and Moore County had played Monday and Tuesday. They were a little sharper than we were. Part of it was that they junked it up on us. They played every combination junk zone defense known to mankind -- 1-3-1, 1-2-2, 2-3, box-and-one. The only thing we really didn't see is a triangle-and-two, and I'm not so sure we didn't see one of them one possession.

"It was a little frustrating that we had worked on it for three days, and it didn't look like we'd worked on it for three days."

Cascade advances to the 9-A semifinals, where it find itself staring at rival and No. 6-seed Community. Weather changes moved the game back twice and tip-off back at Forrest High School is on Friday night at 7:30.

It will be the third straight year the two have locked up in the 9-A tourney with the Vikings winning last year in the consolation game.

"Now we can focus on seeding and trying to leave the district tournament better than we have the last two years," said Pope, whose team won both regular-season meetings with Community.

"We've got to focus more and be more in-tune with executing in the half-court."

Ricky Hord's 3-pointer 2 seconds before the buzzer gave Cascade the momentum it needed going into halftime in spite of trailing the Raiders (5-22) all of the first two quarters.

"We hadn't played well, but we were still in the ballgame and that was a testimony to the kids," said Pope, whose team was down 27-24 at the break. "You've got four seniors in that locker room that didn't want it to be their last game.

"You have to look at it like what you have to gain, not what you have to lose because if you focus on the negative, that's what you're going to get."

In the third quarter, two free throws by Gerald "Happy" Johnson put the Champs ahead for good. The charity tosses were part of a 14-4 scoring run that was capped by a Christian Edmondson trey with 3:17 on the clock that made it 35-31.

The Orange and Black carried a slim 38-34 advantage into the final period.

Edmondson poured in 12 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth, including nine clutch free throws, to help his team stretch out the lead.

Hord joined in double figures with 10 points. Edmondson was a steady 10-for-11 at the foul line.

Clint Fanning paced Moore County with 14 points. Kohl Rogers was tenacious defensively and chipped in 10 points.