Stayton Denies Cascade Of Victory!

Stayton Denies Cascade Of Victory!

By Jeremy Mcdonald jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com STAYTON, Ore.–For much of the second half, it was a Cat-and-Mous game of Stayton jumping out to a nice lead only to have rival Cascade rally back to within a possession. But with 2:13 left in the game, Stayton seemed to have put the game away up 14 points and the…

Jeremy McDonald

February 11, 2017

3–5 minutes

Stayton High School

By Jeremy Mcdonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

STAYTON, Ore.–For much of the second half, it was a Cat-and-Mous game of Stayton jumping out to a nice lead only to have rival Cascade rally back to within a possession.

But with 2:13 left in the game, Stayton seemed to have put the game away up 14 points and the Cougars seemed to be out for the count.

For Aidan Hill and the Eagles, though the lead was there, they weren’t counting out Cascade themselves as Stayton looked to get a victory over a Cougar team that they haven’t had in years.

“We know people are going to make runs like that, basketball is a game of runs and things aren’t going to go your way,” said Hill. “But at the same time we knew had to battle adversity, we had to finish out that game because we wanted nothing more than to come out with a ‘W’ because Stayton hasn’t beaten Cascade in over ten years.”

And that’s what happened, the game of runs had one last run in it and it was up to Stayton to stop it.

p1430608 — Late in Friday’s Game, Cascade found one last push to cut a 14-point deficit to 3 with under a minute left in the game and Stayton had to find someway to stop them (Picture By Jeremy McDonald)

Cascade used a last stand of sorts as Tyler Walker and company found themselves down three with 40.1 left as Walker nailed a pair of Free Throws to bring them to within three.

“My team, they came out hard, they played,” said Cougars Treyden Harris. “Noah (Glibert) got a couple of steals that we really needed. Tyler (Walker) had some big shots and moving the ball around, set screens.”

Junior post Damien Ball said that this comeback speaks volumes of this squad in more areas than one.

“It shows our character,” said Ball. “Our team has a lot of heart, we won’t back down to anyone.”

Pressuring them to turn it over Cascade pressured the Eagles to use a Timeout and coming out of it, the Cougs Noah Glibert fouled Stayton’s Cade Nau during a scramble for the ball in the backcourt.

Nau would make one-of-two free throws that put Stayton up four with seconds

Cascade tried for a 3 and 1 following the foul shot to force overtime as they move quickly up the court, and in a mad dash accidentally found themselves giving up another foul to Stayton.

Though Stayton couldn’t connect on Free Throws, there wasn’t enough time for the Cougs to complete a comeback for the ages.

p1430628 — Tyler Walker (2, right) was an important reason why Cascade made a late run for victory versus Stayton (Picture By Jeremy McDonald)

For the Eagles, a sense of frustration was there, but so was the excitement of victory.

“That run started with out laziness, but we’re a good team,” said Riley Nichol. “We stuck together on defense and pull it off there at the end.”

“It’s excited to be able to give last bit of energy we all had to come out with that good win,” Hill added on the excitement of being able to squeeze it out.

Even Head Coach Joe Kiser expressed his excitement for the victory

“At the moment I’m pretty ecstatic,” “I remind the guys often of how long it’s been since we’ve beat those guys. I have tremendous respect for Coach (Steve) Ball and the program’s he’s built.

“The guys came out on a mission, our backs been against the wall with the record in league and they really wanted it. The seniors played well tonight. Cade Nau had 11 rebounds, he led us in board and he came out on a mission and closed that game out for us.”

From the other side, you saw the frustrations on the faces of Cascade as they wanted this game as badly as the Eagles did; but they know as well that the deficit was too much to overcome late as they look to finish the season strong.

“Our team wanted it as bad as they did,” said Ball. “But we kind of put ourselves down early on and we fought back and that’s kind of where we ended up.

“(If we) play every minute like we did those last few minutes, that’s the best way to finish the season.”

Cascade (8-8, 4-3 Oregon West Conference) will be at home Tuesday versus Newport for a 5:30pm tip. For Stayton (10-9, 3-4), they’re on the road to Yamhill-Carlton Tuesday night for a 6:30pm tip.

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Photos by Jeremy McDonald