WARTRACE, TN – The Cascade Champions pulled out a come-from-behind win against the visiting Cornersville Bulldogs to open the 2024-25 season on Tuesday night, 61-55. 

Trailing 28-27 at halftime, and by multiple possessions in the third quarter, junior guard Kaleb Kelso connected on four threes as part of a 17-point second half explosion to help ensure Cascade started the season with a win. Jason Cullum also finished with 21 points in his first game for Cascade after being forced to sit out all of last season after transferring in from Community, including 12 in the first half. 

Kaleb Kelso (5) poured in 17 second-half points on Tuesday.

Cornersville, who finished 7-21 last season under head coach Dakota Brown, played Cascade tough for three-and-a-half quarters led by Ayden Campbell’s 23 points and Canaan Bennett’s 20 points, but ultimately could not withstand the three-point barrage in the second half from the Champions.

Cascade started things out with a frenetic pace, taking an 18-15 lead after the opening period of play, but things bogged down offensively in the second quarter. Cornersville’s Campbell and Bennett combined for 26 of Cornersville’s 28 first-half points as the Bulldogs took a 28-27 lead into the halftime locker room. Cullum led the way for Cascade with 12 points at the half, but the rest of his teammates only hit a combined one three-pointer – from Tyler Barrett – in the opening 16 minutes. 

In the second half, Cornersville slowly but surely began to extend their lead, but Cascade was able to keep the Bulldogs from ever going up by double-digits to give their offense a chance to heat up. Despite Kelso’s pair of three-pointers to close the quarter, Cornersville maintained a slim lead at 42-40 entering the final frame. 

In the fourth quarter, free throw shooting and defense turned out to be the difference in the game. Cullum went 7/8 from the charity stripe in the final four minutes while Cornersville missed six free throws in the final eight minutes, finishing 12/19 for the game and keeping the door open for the Champions.

Cascade ended up outscoring Cornersville 21-13 in the fourth quarter while holding Canaan Bennett scoreless in the final frame to take the 61-55 victory to tip-off Chris Lawson’s fifth season patrolling the sidelines for the Champions. Kelso’s seven fourth-quarter points, Cullum’s seven free throws, and a Tyler Rodgers three-pointer ended up being enough to hold off the visiting Bulldogs.

Cornersville falls to 0-1 and will travel to Chapel Hill on Friday.

Cascade improves to 1-0 and will travel to Huntland on Thursday, LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 starting at 5:45 p.m.