BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – The Cascade Champions (3-2) struggled to find the range in Tuesday night’s 60-41 defeat against the visiting Richland Raiders (4-1).

Despite entering the contest with three players averaging double-figures in points, only Henry Stone was able to reach that mark on Tuesday, continuing his double-digit scoring run of games with a team-high 15 points. The Raiders held Kaleb Kelso – who came in averaging 20 points-per-game – to just two points while Cooper McElroy – who was averaging 11.8 PPG – was also held to just two points.

Last season, Richland was one game away from the state tournament, finishing with a 21-10 record after falling 49-43 at Wayne County in the state-sectional round. This year, the Raiders look primed for a deep run with an old, experienced squad under Jason Loveless led by junior big man, Kade McCormack. McCormack was unstoppable inside all night long, finishing with 28 points to lead all scorers. Senior guard Cooper Jackson joined him in double-figures with 21 points on the night, and Jameson Andrews chipped in with nine points of his own.

Early on, the Champions struggled to adjust to the step-up in competition from their previous matchup at Fayetteville City on Friday with Jackson scoring eight of the Raiders’ first ten points of the contest. Despite this, Cascade trailed by just five points, 14-9, at the end of the opening frame after Tristin Billings rattled home what ended up being Cascade’s lone made three-pointer of the night.

In the second quarter, McCormack began to take over early, and then Jackson put up seven more points to close out the half and give the visitors a 32-22 advantage heading into the halftime locker room. Richland outscored Cascade by five, 18-13, in the period.

Cascade managed to play the Raiders even by the end of the third quarter after Doug Worsley subbed in some different lineup combinations that saw Micah Jones score his first career points in a Cascade uniform, entering the final frame trailing, 47-37. However, the Raiders hit the gas one final time in the fourth quarter, outscoring Cascade 13-4 to reach the final margin of victory, 60-41.

Cascade falls to 3-2 overall and welcomes a tough opponent to The Stable in Cannon County on Friday night, LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400 starting at 5:45 p.m.