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Champs fight off Eagles’ comeback try

By WILL CARTER ~ Sports Writer
Posted 11/27/22

BELL BUCKLE — After jumping out to a 37-32 first half lead, the Cascade Champions (3-0) fended off the comeback effort of the Eagleville Eagles (1-2) on their way to a 63-52 win for their third …

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Champs fight off Eagles’ comeback try

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BELL BUCKLE — After jumping out to a 37-32 first half lead, the Cascade Champions (3-0) fended off the comeback effort of the Eagleville Eagles (1-2) on their way to a 63-52 win for their third straight to open the season.
Seniors Lucas Clanton and Jackson Davis returned to their lead roles on the offensive end by notching 18 and 17 points respectively with four total Champions reaching double figures.
“They just have an instinct for scoring,” Cascade head coach Chris Lawson said. “Night in and night out, I’m confident that we’re going to get 15 to 20 points a night out of those two guys. We had four in double figures tonight, and that’s what makes us tough.”
Davis got off to a hot start early in the contest as he knocked down back-to-back perimeter shots to help his team to a 21-13 lead after the first quarter.
Cascade dropped four of their seven total three-pointers through the net in the quarter.
“We want to shoot the ball with confidence,” Lawson said. “We have a mindset that if we miss two or three in a row, we’re going to come back and knock down two or three. We can be dangerous if we knock down our shots consistently.”
Carrying their momentum into the second quarter, the Champions went on a 6-2 run in the first minute and forced Eagleville to take a timeout.
A balanced attack of five different scorers helped them to a 37-22 lead heading into the halftime break.
But an energized Eagles’ squad came out of the locker room with an agenda and went on a 6-2 run of their own which forced Lawson to take a timeout early in the third quarter.
After a healthy back-and-forth to finish out the third frame, the Champions held onto their double-digit lead heading into the final eight minutes.
While Eagleville continued to keep up with the Champions, they were never within single digits of the lead after the first quarter.
A large portion of their attack came from Kaden Snitzer led his team with 17 points and 13-of-16 shooting from the free throw line.
In the fourth quarter alone, Snitzer shot 7-of-10 from the stripe.
“I told the guys in the locker room that this wasn’t an easy game,” Lawson said. They did a good job rebounding the ball and getting to the line, and they knocked them down. They were able to knock them down. Snitzer was 13-of-16 from the line, and that kept them in it towards the end.”
Joining Clanton and Davis in double figures were Jayden Gulick (10) and Saebyn Burris (11) with Burris doing it for the second consecutive game after leading the Champions with 18 points in their last game against Tullahoma.
Inside scoring is important for Cascade’s offense to flow, but Burris’ rebounding efforts are just as vital for Lawson and the Champions.
“He’s been huge in filling that role inside,” Lawson said. “We have some other guys that can knock down shots, but Saebyn has had a good start to the season. He had another great night on the boards as well. If he can keep giving us that, it makes us tough to defend.”
Cascade will be back on the hardwood on Monday with a visit to Rockvale with tipoff to follow the girls’ game.


Eagleville 13 9 12 18 — 52
Cascade 21 16 10 16 — 63

Eagleville: Kaden Snitzer 17, Jordan Reed 12, Camden Cole 10, Grey Parker 8, Rhett Deaton 3, Brady Burns 2.
Cascade: Lucas Clanton 18, Jackson Davis 17, Saebyn Burris 11, Jayden Gulick 10, Isaac McElroy 5, Thomas Gentry 2.
3-points goals: Cascade (7): Davis 3, Jayden Gulick 2, Burris, Clanton; Eagleville (5): Reed 2, Barker, Cole, Deaton.
Halftime score: Cascade 37, Eagleville 22