Champs tame Vikings, return to 9-A tourney finals

CHAPEL HILL -- A dominant rebounding effort and solid defense helped second-seeded Cascade fend off the upset bug and defeat sixth-seeded Community 46-23 in a District 9-A tournament semifinal Friday night.

The Champions (16-10) won for the third time this season over the Vikings (7-20) by holding their rivals to lengthy gaps without a field goal.

"Right now they're playin' with house money, so we knew they'd come in with nothing to lose and play loose and carefree," Cascade coach Charlie Pope said. "(Community coach) Jace (Bryant) has done a great job getting them to this point, and we knew that we needed to limit them to one shot and try to not give them more confidence."

Jake Leverette's bucket midway through the first quarter gave Community its first and only lead. The Champs responded with seven unanswered points over the next 4:51.

The Vikes went over four minutes without a field goal in the second quarter as well until Kyle Dyer banked in a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to shrink their deficit to 19-11.

"The key was at halftime it was 19-11 with 10 second-chance points (by Cascade)," said Bryant, whose strategy was to slow the game down and keep Cascade on defense. "If we rebound, we're winning 11-9 at halftime and our game plan is perfect. But, we didn't rebound tonight. When you don't rebound it doesn't matter what your game plan is."

Leverette rose up in the paint to score at the 3:37 mark of the third quarter. However, his team wouldn't find the bottom of the twine the following 6:23 until he netted another basket.

"We didn't play well against their zone. We weren't attacking it and were playing on our heels. That's why we went through those gaps...and we didn't shoot the ball," Bryant said.

The Champs countered with eight straight points. They turned turnovers into layups in transition to take full control.

"We definitely had some inexperience show up," Bryant said. "You could tell in our eyes we just had some guys that were unsure about themselves because we've never been in this situation. This is all new for us."

Cascade advances to the 9-A final and takes on Forrest on Tuesday night at 7:30. It's the program's fourth trip to the district championship under Pope, with the Rockets being the opponent each time.

"It'll be wild, it's going to be fun," Pope said. "It's what it's about. It's why you play high school basketball, and it's why I'm one of the lucky 100-and-some-odd guys in Single A basketball that get to coach for a living.

"You work all summer, you work all fall to get to this point, to be able to play for a championship. It's not entitled, it comes with a lot of hard work. We've got some experience and talent in our locker room but those two things alone won't get you a championship. We're going to have to put the pieces together and have a total team effort."

Community tips off against No. 1-seed Eagleville for third place on Tuesday at 6.

Zack Hitchcock topped Cascade in scoring with 11 points. Gerald "Happy" Johnson followed with 10.

Leverette finished with 10.

Both teams hit only one 3-pointer as most points came in close proximity of the rim.

"One other thing I thought we did extremely well was being patient offensively, for the most part, and working the ball inside and really attacking them in the paint," Pope said.

Forrest 81, Eagleville 75 (3OT): In the other 9-A semifinal, Kyle Gugger poured in 36 points to help lead the Rockets to their sixth district final in the last eight years. Mark Pope contributed 18.

Eagleville carried a 30-19 lead into halftime before the tournament hosts came storming back to tie the game at 40 moving to the fourth period. The teams were knotted at 51 at the end of regulation, at 63 after the first OT and at 68 following the second extra period.

Kevin Brown's 24 points led the Eagles (19-6). Jonathan Porter had 17, Brady Ledwell 15 and Tyler Davenport 12.

All four teams that played Friday will compete in the Region 5-A tournament on Saturday night at 7.

Cascade and Forrest take on either the Nos. 3 or 4 seeds from District 10-A. Community and Eagleville hit the road to battle either the No. 1 or 2 seeds.