By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

TURNER, Ore.– Backs against the wall, feet to the fire in a packed house, Cascade finds a way in getting it done against Philomath.

Some would say this is a rivalry and it lived up to the billing as the Warriors came back from near-death down 36-20 at halftime to make it 41-39 in the fourth quarter. Living up to the hype this match-up Thursday, and at the end of the regular season, could be for the Oregon West Conference Championship between the two league favorites. State Finalist favorites at that too.

But the Cougars rose to the occasion, pushing their lead to 47-41 with under two minutes left of their 50-49 victory. Trying to stay mellow in the hostile environment that surrounds the two Championship-caliber teams.

Philomath’s May made it a three-point game with 31.7 left thanks to a three that forced Cascade to burn a timeout to rest. Spencer Horne soon answered with a lay-in. The Warriors Jacob Peters gets a lay-on to keep it a 49-46 game with 15.6 left.

Run as one has been their team mantra all year and in a contest like this, they needed to be running as one. Playing as a unit to finish off the win going into the second half of the league. It spoke to the character of this team as they got the stops and baskets they needed to stay ahead at the end of the day.

“Our slogan, and you see it all over, ‘Run as One’. So if we ‘Run As One’ on defense, you have to be one unit and we try to do that every single game and we came out with the win tonight,” Landon Knox said. “We came together and got stops, so overall it was a good team-effort.”

“I’m just proud of the boys for pulling it out,” adds Spencer Horne. “Just sticking as one. We got guys who stepped up that normally don’t play much, they stepped up tonight and came in and made good plays. I’m proud that we stuck as one. We didn’t bicker at each other, we never got mad at each other, we stuck together. When they went on that big run, we stuck together and I’m just proud of the boys.

It was hard, continued Horne, but it was similar to their game with John Paul II of Texas in the Capitol City Classic back in December to close out the tournament where the Cougars stuck together as one and finished out that tough victory at Willamette University. It’s games like those two in particular this season that will help the squad moving into the second loop of league on Monday in knowing that they’re capable of overcoming any kind of adversity that they’ll face. Especially when the two teams meet again on February 20 at Philomath.

“It’s good that the 18-point lead didn’t stick and beat them by 20 because we would have gone (to Philomath) thinking we’re way better than them, so I’m glad it was a close game because we know what to do to beat them. They lost and they’ll have the fire, but we got to have the same fire because it was a one-point game. It wasn’t like we blew them out, we knew it’s going to be a close game,” Horne said.  

Knox finished with 18 points with another 16 coming from Spencer Horne with Cascade having a non-league game Saturday at Baker. May led Philomath with 14 points. Preston Kramer contributed another 11 points with the Warriors heading back home against Newport Monday.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald