With 2:48 left in the first quarter on Friday night, the Forrest Rockets had built a 10-point lead over Cascade and sat poised to possibly spoil the Champs’ senior night.
A steady game plan and a refusal to give up allowed Cascade to rally past the Rockets and take a 64-55 win in the regular season finale.
“I think even going back to last season, one of the great attributes of our guys is they don’t give up. They continue to fight, they continue to give everything they’ve got. They did that tonight. We slowly pecked away at the lead, got back in the game and gave ourselves a chance,” Champion coach Chris Lawson said.
The Rockets got off to a hot start, posting a 19-point effort in the first quarter.
Hunter Bennett led the charge, knocking down six points by driving to the rim, while Brennan Mealer hit a pair of 3-pointers.
Cascade’s early production came courtesy of Lucas Clanton, who scored eight points in the opening frame, including a pair of timely 3-pointers.
Little by little, Cascade continued to chip into the Rockets’ lead but just couldn’t get over the hump in the first half.
Zach Crosslin had a chance to give the Champs the lead when he was fouled on a made basket with just over a minute left to play, but the foul shot after rimmed out.
Forrest broke the 29-29 tie with a basket by Andrew Timmons with 15 seconds left in the half to once again give the Rockets a one possession lead heading into the half.
While able to cut the Forrest lead to two points, Cascade struggled getting to the free throw line and made just 1-of-3 attempts in the first half.
But Cascade went on to finish 15-of-21 in the game.
“We talked about if they came out in the 1-3-1, working the ball around, getting it to the high post, short corner, getting it inside and just working it where they had to move a little bit,” Lawson said.
With the Champions working around the 1-3-1 defense, Cascade eventually took the lead on a Jackson Davis 3-pointer with 5:15 left in the third.
The two squads traded baskets before Cascade took the lead for good on a Justis Carter basket with 2:45 left in the third.
While the Rockets were determined to not let Carter thrive in the paint, he was able to add another wrinkle in his game with a mid-range jumper from the baseline.
“He’s worked really hard on his shot, getting more efficient and more consistent, especially at the free throw line,” Lawson said.
Cascade closed the game with a huge 22-point fourth quarter, including a near-perfect 8-of-10 attempts at the free throw line.
Clanton led the Champs with a game-high 19 points, but Davis and Carter also hit double figures and scored 13 apiece.
Carter is Cascade’s lone senior and has made quite the impact on Cascade’s program over the past two years.
“I love him to death. He’s grown tremendously. He’s worked extremely hard on his game. I can’t say enough about him,” Lawson said.
With Carter’s leadership, Cascade has now locked up the regular season district championship for two-straight years, along with the No. 1 seed in the district tournament.
While Cascade was the No. 1 seed heading to the postseason a year ago, Fayetteville City upset Cascade in the first game of the District 8-A tournament a season ago.
Cascade hopes to avoid a repeat of last year’s first-round upset and looks to take care of Grundy County in the semifinal of the District 7-AA tournament on Tuesday night.
“We just talked about that in the locker room. We won the district regular season last year, then let Fayetteville come in here and spoil the party for us for the district tournament. One of our team goals is winning the district tournament,” Lawson said.
“We’ve got to be ready to battle and ready to compete.”

Forrest 19 12 8 16 — 55
Cascade 11 18 13 22 — 64

Forrest: Brennan Mealer 14, Hunter Bennett 14, Davin Porter 8, Andrew Timmons 8, Ben Villazon 2.
Cascade: Lucas Clanton 19, Justis Carter 13, Jackson Davis 13, Isaac McElroy 9, Chance Brown 5, Jayden Gulick 3, Zach Crosslin 2.
3-Point goals: Cascade (7): Davis 2, McElroy 2, Clanton 2, Gulick; Forrest (6): Mealer 4, Jones, Timmons.
Halftime score: Forrest 31, Cascade 29.