COALMONT, Tenn. – The 3-seed Cascade Champions (15-12, 5-3), shot just 28% from the field in Friday’s 47-39 loss against the 2-seed Grundy County Yellow Jackets (19-5, 6-2) in the second District 9-AA Semifinal. 

The Champions’ defense held Grundy County’s 2,000 career points scorer, Sam Parson, to just 13 points on 5-11 shooting, but Cascade shot just 23% (6-26) from downtown in an uncharacteristic offensive performance for the visitors. Despite holding Grundy County to 31% shooting themselves, the hometown  Yellow Jackets ended the night with a massive discrepancy at the free throw line, finishing with a 24-10 advantage in attempts from the charity stripe.

Reece Strong led the way for the Yellow Jackets with a team-high 14 points to go along with 13 rebounds in a double-double performance. Parson was held to just 13 points and eight boards with four assists, but Carson Magouirk, who did not play in either of the first two meetings between these two, connected on a pair of critical three-pointers in the second half and finished with eight points which also turned out to be the final margin of victory.

Jason Cullum led all scorers with a game-high 15 points, but the defense of Parson held him to just 6-21 shooting from the field, including 1-7 from downtown. Kaleb Kelso, who had 24 points the last time the two teams faced off on January 31, strangely never found the range on Friday, scoring just eight points on 3-13 shooting and going 2-9 from three. 

Cascade actually controlled the pace and tempo from the opening tip until about halfway through the second quarter. Similar to the last meeting, the Champs’ 2-3 zone gave Grundy County problems, but due to the struggles on the offensive end, Cascade ended the opening period with merely a four-point lead, 9-5. 

In the second quarter, the Champs extended their lead to 12-5, holding the Yellow Jackets scoreless for the first four minutes of the period. Even after Grundy County made a mini-run of their own, Cascade still maintained a six-point lead going into the halftime locker room, 18-12. However, the momentum was beginning to shift to the hometown sidelines.

Jason Cullum (3) soars in for two of his 15 points in Friday's loss.

David Smith

Coming out for the second half, Cascade maintained their slim advantage, 23-20, with just under three minutes to go. However, Henry Stone, a key cog for the Champs’ defense and rebounding, was tagged with his fourth personal foul despite a picture-perfect block-out of Reece Strong, forcing him to the bench for the majority of the remainder of the second half. With Stone on the bench, Grundy proceeded to focus on attacking both the paint and the offensive glass, taking a 26-23 lead before a high-arcing 15-foot fadeaway jumper from Jason Cullum beat the third quarter buzzer to cut the lead to one.

In the final frame, Grundy County continued to ramp up their pressure in the Cascade painted area, continuously finding their way to the free throw line as the Champs struggled to find the range from downtown on offense. Cascade got the lead to as close as four points, 41-37, with 1:36 to go after Noah Watson connected on his only three-pointer of the night from the corner, but the Yellow Jackets were able to close the game out from the free-throw line, pulling away to win by eight, 47-39, and advance to their second-consecutive District 9-AA Championship Game.

Cascade will play Community in the 3rd-place game on Monday night at 6:00 p.m. LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400.