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Burris delivers, leads Cascade past Tullahoma in home opener

By CHRIS SIERS ~ sports@t-g.com
Posted 11/18/22

For the last three years, Cascade (2-0) has relied on the consistency in scoring from seniors Jackson Davis and Lucas Clanton. When the shots weren’t falling for Cascade on Thursday night …

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Burris delivers, leads Cascade past Tullahoma in home opener

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For the last three years, Cascade (2-0) has relied on the consistency in scoring from seniors Jackson Davis and Lucas Clanton.
When the shots weren’t falling for Cascade on Thursday night against Tullahoma (0-1), it was Saebyn Burris who delivered some timely offense to lead the Champs in the scoring column in the 59-52 win over the Wildcats.
“Last year, Saebyn didn’t provide a ton of scoring. He’s got to provide more for us on the offensive side of things. Tonight, he did. He as the leading scorer with 18 points, hit two three’s, 4-for-4 from the free throw line—you can’t ask much more from him. That’s a heck of an effort,” Champion coach Chris Lawson said.
Burris led six Champions in scoring with a game-high 18 points, including a pair of three-pointers on back-to-back possessions for Cascade in the second quarter.
After stretching its lead to 12 points with 3:10 left in the half after Clanton rattled home a corner three-pointer, Tullahoma closed the half on an 8-2 run to cut the Champs’ lead to six points at the half.
Cascade eventually stretched its lead to 10 points at multiple points in the second half, but the pesky Wildcats simply wouldn’t quit.
A three-pointer by Tullahoma’s Xavier Farrell with 2:39 left in the game cut Cascade’s lead to just four points.
Needing to run its half-court offense and milk time off the clock, Cascade executed a handful of possessions that not only drained key seconds off the clock, but rebuilt the lead to two scores in the closing minutes.
“I thought we had one negative possession where we shot it a little too quick. We were up 10, we shot it a little quick and missed and they went down and hit a three to cut it to seven. We came down the next time and were able to move it, pass it and drive it and got a layup right at the rim. That’s more of what we’re looking for as far as execution at the end of the game,” Lawson said.
Clanton and Davis both joined Burris in double figures, scoring 14 and 11 respectively.
Jayden Gulick added 11 for the winners as well.
“With those two in particular (Davis and Clanton), they started for us ever since I got here. I know, no matter what the situation is, they’re going to continue to play. They’re going to continue to push. You have to give Tullahoma credit, they never quit. Every time they made a shot or got something going, we had an answer,” Lawson added.
While Cascade’s depth came in handy in the second half, the defensive effort can’t be overlooked.
One of the team’s goals is to hold opposing teams to 55 points or less in each game.
“One of our team goals that we have in the locker room is trying to hold teams under 55 points. We did that tonight. For us, we didn’t shoot it great at times. We only scored 59. We need to score a few more than that, but at the end of the day, we scored enough to win,” Lawson said.
The win marked the first home victory of the season in a packed house at Cascade on Thursday night.
“The place was rocking. I think playing Tullahoma added a little to it. I’m very happy that we won, but we needed this type of environment early on. It was a test. We passed this first test,” Lawson said.
Cascade returns home on Tuesday night and will host Eagleville in another non-district meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Tullahoma 13 13 11 15 — 52
Cascade 15 17 15 12 — 59

Tullahoma: Xavier Farrell 12, Khani Johnson 8, Austin Tinnon 8, Grant Chadwick 7, Deandre Jenkins 6, Malik Grizzard 5, Bryson Steverson 2, Keegan Taylor 2, Jaiden Sanchez 2.
Cascade: Saebyn Burris 18, Lucas Clanton 14, Jayden Gulick 11, Jackson Davis 11, Thomas Gentry 3, Isaac McElroy 2.
3-Point goals: Cascade (8): Gulick 3, Clanton 2, Burris 2, Gentry; Tullahoma (5): Johnson 2, Farrell, Chadwick, Grizzard.
Halftime score: Cascade 32, Tullahoma 26.