Bell Buckle, Tenn. – The Cascade Champions (15-10, 5-3) completed the season sweep in their final District 9-AA game of the regular season against the visiting Community Vikings (12-14, 1-6), on Tuesday night, 73-56.

Kaleb Kelso led all scorers with 24 points on a season-high eight made three-pointers to lead a peaking Cascade to their seventh win in the last 10 games. His backcourt mate, Jason Cullum, scored 19 points of his own while Henry Stone chipped in with 10 points down low.

For Community, Charlie Haskins and Jonathan Lawell tied for a team-high 10 points while Landon Lovvorn and Austin Stickler were held to just eight points apiece. The Vikings suffered their fourth consecutive defeat on the season and fourth consecutive loss to Cascade in the series dating back to last season.

To start, the Vikings were able to keep things close for about a quarter-and-a-half before Cascade’s offensive onslaught became too much to handle. A pretty even opening period saw the Champions only ahead by four points, 13-9, despite Community missing multiple bunnies around the basket.

In the second quarter, Cascade outscored the Vikings, 21-13, to take a 34-22 lead into the halftime locker room. Community responded to an 11-0 Cascade run with a 9-1 run of their own to cut the lead to 25-20 with less than 90 seconds remaining in the half. However, Kelso responded with a top-of-the-key triple to spark a 9-2 run that took just over a minute to take the 12-point lead at the half.The Champions’ opportunistic zone defense forced numerous turnovers, leading to runouts and easy shots from the perimeter. Kelso connected on five threes in the first half for 15 points while Cullum, who scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half of the first matchup back on January 21, put in 13 first-half points. 

Jason Cullum (3) scored 19 points in Cascade's win on Tuesday.

David Smith

Coming out of halftime, Cascade’s dynamic backcourt duo continued to cook as the Champions extended their lead to 19 by the end of the third quarter, 50-31. Cooper McElroy, who scored seven fourth-quarter points in Cascade’s 10-point win in Chapel Hill on Friday, scored all seven of his points against Community in the second half while Stone put in eight of his 10 in the final two quarters.

Haskins, Stickler, and Lawell combined for 25 points in the second half, but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with the high-flying Cascade attack. Haskins, coming off an incredible 31-point outing in Community’s three-point OT loss at Grundy County on Friday, 68-65, never quite looked comfortable against the Champs’ zone all night despite reaching double-figures late.

In the final frame, the Vikings actually outscored Cascade by two, 25-23, despite the Champs holding nearly a 20-point lead for the majority of the fourth quarter. In the end, it was not enough to overcome the damage done in the first three periods, and Cascade won by 17 for the second consecutive meeting, 73-56.

Community falls to 12-14 (1-6) and will travel to Chapel Hill on Friday before playing the Rockets again on Monday in the 4-5 play-in game at Grundy County.

Cascade improves to 15-10 (5-3) and will be the 3-seed in the upcoming District 9-AA Tournament. The Champions will host Mt. Pleasant for Senior Night on Thursday before traveling to Summertown on Friday to complete the regular season with both games LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400 starting at 5:45 p.m.