BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – The Cascade Champions (9-7, 0-1) suffered a heartbreaking walk-off defeat at the hands of the defending Class AA State Champions, Loretto (7-6, 1-0), 57-55, on Friday night.

After Kylon Wilkerson missed a pair of free throws with 25.5 seconds left, Cascade only trailed by three-points, 55-52, until Cooper McElroy nailed a 24-footer from the right wing to tie the game at 55 with 15 seconds remaining. Greg Tipps opted not to call timeout as the clock continued to run, and Wilkerson made up for his missed free throws by putting back Mason Tidwell’s missed three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to deliver a walk-off victory for the Mustangs to open District 9-AA play.

Kaleb Kelso (5) lays in two of his 12 points in Friday's loss against the Mustangs.

David Smith

Wilkerson finished with a game-high 23 points and five rebounds. Tidwell added 20 points and nine rebounds for Loretto to survive the furious Cascade rally.

After taking their largest lead of the game, 50-40, after a Tidwell layup with 4:45 remaining, Cascade looked dead in the water. Instead, Tyler Rodgers turned up the defensive intensity, leading the Champions on a furious 15-5 run over the final 4:30 after McElroy’s game-tying triple.

“Even though Tyler kind of tweaked his ankle in the first half, he came back in the second half determined…we talked about it as a team at halftime, if you’re not making shots, find a way to impact the game in other ways, and he found ways to impact the game,” Cascade Head Coach Doug Worlsey said postgame, “Defensively, rebounding, just being a pest…I thought he ramped it up higher than normal in the fourth quarter when we made our run.”

Cascade shot just 37% from the floor, got outscored 40-28 in the paint, and shot just nine free throws, but the Champions hit five more three-pointers than the Mustangs, forced 15 turnovers, and chased down 16 offensive rebounds to stay in the game.

Early on, the Champions took a 12-10 lead at the end of the opening period. Loretto responded by outscoring the hosts, 15-14 in the second quarter, but Cascade held onto a one-point lead going into the halftime locker room, 26-25, after a Henry Stone corner three-pointer to beat the buzzer. 

Coming out to start the second half, Loretto methodically took control of the game as their length and physicality began to wear on the Champions. The Mustangs outscored Cascade in the third quarter, 19-11, to take a 44-37 lead into the final frame. 

In the fourth, Loretto kept their foot on the gas, extending its lead to 10 points with just under five minutes remaining. The Mustangs still led by eight, 52-44, with two-and-a-half minutes to go, but then Rodgers knifed his way to the basket for a tough and-one layup. He missed the free throw, but he made up for it by stripped Tidwell on the other end that resulted in a Tristin Billings layup to cut the lead to 52-48 with 1:40 left in the fourth quarter.

Coming out of a Cascade timeout, Tidwell responded for the Mustangs. Tidwell connected on a layup after being fouled, but he missed the ensuing free throw with 80 seconds to go, leaving the door open for the Champions. However, Kaleb Kelso, who finished with 12 points on the night, turned the ball over against the press, giving Loretto possession with a five-point lead and just 65 seconds on the clock, but Tyler Rodgers once again forced a turnover, dumping it off to Kelso in the fastbreak for a layup to cut the lead down to three points.

Cascade took its final timeout, and then eventually fouled Wilkerson with 25.5 on the clock, leading to the crazy ending that resulted in a Loretto victory.

“We told them in the locker room at the end that I am proud of them competing, but this is the way it’s going to be every night in this league,” said Worsley. “Doesn’t matter if it’s Summertown, doesn’t matter if it’s Community, doesn’t matter if it’s Chapel Hill, this is the way it’s going to be every night so you better strap it up and be ready to go. We’ve got to learn from it.”

The Champions fall to 9-7 overall. Cascade continues District 9-AA play on Tuesday, traveling to Unionville for the ‘Battle of Bedford’, LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400.