Cascade picks up first league win at Chelan, 56-33

The Cascade Kodiak boys’ basketball team picked a pair of wins this past week against Chelan and Bridgeport. They opened the week with a league game at Okanogan (5-3, 10-5), losing 80-59, on Jan. 16.  
Cascade Head Coach Paul Fraker said they did not show up in the first half.
“They came out and just took it to us in every facet of the game. We were not prepared to play and did not play well in the first half,” Fraker said. “In the second half, even though the game was out of reach, we did a really good job of defending. We started getting the ball out and getting transition points. We actually had a really good second half. That was at least something we could take to build upon for the next game.”
The 80 points scored by the Bulldogs is only the second time this season Cascade has allowed an opponent to score that much.
Two day later, on Jan. 18, Cascade played at Chelan (3-5, 5-10), a team that had beaten them twice in very close games. The mind-set, Fraker said, was trying to build off that second half in Okanogan.
“We wanted to defend and push the ball. We knew it was a game we had to win. It was a team we match up well with. They got us in the first two games, but we really thought we could win this one,” Fraker said. “We defended them so well. We only had five turnovers, so that was a big difference. We shot 22-for-27 from the free throw line. They were 10-for-22 free throws.”
Cascade won 56-33. Holding the Goats to just 33 points was a good team effort, he said.
“We had some assignments trying to guard (Connor) Wilson. We held him to two points. That was good execution by the guys. We know if he gets hot, they are a tough team to beat. We took care of the ball, so we had a lot more shot attempts,” Fraker said.
The Kodiaks nearly had four guys in double figures scoring. Jose Mendoza 16, Dillon Samuel 12, Cole Warnaca 9, Isaac Cortes 8.
Cascade (1-8, 5-12) finished off the week trouncing 2B Bridgeport at home, 73-53. Mendoza had 23 points, Hans Schlyer 19, Cortes 10.
Cascade finishes off the regular season with home games against Omak (7-2, 13-3), Cashmere (5-3, 9-7) and Okanogan.
“It’s nice because we were road warriors there for a bit. These are three games where we are, at least mathematically, still alive. Our first order of business is taking care of things ourselves and focusing on Omak,” Fraker said. “We’ve won 3-of-4. Hopefully we have some good momentum we can carry into the Omak game. We have a lot to prove to ourselves that we can compete with a team like Omak.”
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.