By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
TURNER, Ore.– The Cascade Boys Basketball team came out firing in the second half against Stayton on Tuesday night at home.
They led 28-21 entering the third quarter, but quickly grew their lead to double-figures and sustained that energy. The Cougars rocked and rolled with the rallies against them by the Eagles and answered back as the two Oregon West Conference teams opened the second half of league play, and it paid off.
It paid off in a 49-35 victory over Stayton for their second league win of the season. With how tough the OWC has been, and still is this year, every win matters coming down the stretch in terms of making the playoffs or not.
“It’s driving us like crazy, we got to get every single win. All of these wins matter, we can’t lose another one if we want to make the playoffs,” said Cascade’s Brysen Higgins. “Second half we came out with a lot of momentum and the home advantage. The crowd, the student section, it was crazy. We got the lead and we held onto it.”
Higgins led the Cougars with 22 points, Felix Prenevost contributed another nine in the win.
For Stayton, it wasn’t the way in which they hoped to start the second half of league play. The first loop through league, they were 4-1 and on top of the league standings with Newport and Philomath. The offense wasn’t clicking as they hoped, but they still have plenty of games left to bounce back and see how they can finish this regular season with four games remaining on their schedule.
“Today, our offense didn’t pick up in the first half and started really slow. We just couldn’t catch up in the second half,” said Stayton’s Ayden Collman. “We’re going to come out in practice tomorrow and work our butts off, we have Sweet Home on Friday at our place and we’re going to come out…that’s going to be a Statesman game for us. We’re going to come out and work our butts off no matter what.
Colleman scored eight points in the defeat with David Nunez leading the Eagles with nine points. Stayton will host Sweet Home on Friday, Cascade will host Newport on Friday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
