Thursday, March 28, 2024

Cascade boys' basketball team score big win over Liberty Bell

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The Cascade Kodiak boys' basketball team played a pair of games last week as part of their Cascade Hoops Classic. On Dec. 27, they matched up against 2B Liberty Bell. Cascade jumped all over the visiting Lions from the get go.

Cascade led 12-6 in the first quarter, then outscored Liberty Bell 15-5 in the second quarter to take a 27-11 halftime lead. The Kodiaks had a stellar third quarter, outscoring the Lions 16-3. Cascade held on for a relatively easy 56-30 win, with many younger players on the court at the end.

"Any win is good for us at this point. Liberty Bell comes here every year. They play hard and are ready to play. It was good. I thought we played unselfish tonight. I saw a lot of assists that led to open shots so I was pretty happy with that," said Cascade Head Coach Paul Fraker.

Cascade had three players in double figures. Sophomore Hans Schlyer had 13, freshman Isaac Cortes had 12 and junior Kurt Fraker had 10. The Kodiaks were playing without leading scorer, Jose Mendoza, who was vacationing over the break.

"It was good for us to play without him. Other guys had to step up and handle the ball. (Cole) Warnaca had been on a break too, so he didn't play much. We had a short rotation so a lot of the young guys came in and finished the game off," Fraker said.

Fraker was pleased with his defense and the fact he was able to play most of his bench.

"We held them to 13 points in the first three quarters. That was a really good showing for us. That's exactly how I thought it should look. I thought we did a good job on the defensive end," Fraker said. "We brought up some young guys who got to play. It was pretty fun."

Cascade faced 2A Black Hills in the tournament finals on Dec. 28. The Kodiaks had a dynamite first quarter, including three-three's, to lead 19-9. Black Hills rallied in the second quarter, outscoring Cascade 21-6.

Black Hills led 30-25 at that half.

"We shot the ball really well. We had some nice assists to get shooters open. We were able to get out to a hot start. That helped. When we shoot the ball well, we play better defense as well," Fraker said. "I think we were motivated on the defensive end in the first quarter."

Black Hills jumped on Cascade in the third quarter 17-6 to lead 47-31. Each team scored 10 in the final quarter as Black Hills won 57-41.

"They scored some baskets and were able to put some pressure on us. We didn't handle the pressure real well. We started missing shots and they were getting out in transition, which was really hurting us because they were getting easy baskets when we weren't able to set up our defense," Fraker said. "At halftime, we really adjusted to make sure we got back on defense. We made that a priority."

Schlyer led Cascade with 14. Senior Dillon Samuel had 13. Cortes had 7. Cascade is 0-4 in league play, 2-7 overall. The Kodiaks resume CTL play tonight at home against Chelan. The Goats beat the Kodiaks 50-46 at Chelan (2-2, 4-6) on Dec. 5.

"It's an important game for us because Chelan is a team at the bottom of the league that we have to be better than at the end of the season. You only get three opportunities to play them so we have to take advantage of those opportunities," Fraker said.

Cascade plays at league leader Omak (3-1, 8-1) on Friday, then at Cashmere (2-2, 4-4) next Tuesday, Jan. 9.  

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.

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