Proving that the only lead in a game that matters is the final one, Cascade Christian’s boys basketball team was able to remain poised and patient despite a constant deficit against Ashland during Saturday night’s championship final of the Cascade Christian Christmas Classic.

Behind a stellar scoring night from Jojo Harrower (31 points) and Quillian Tourzan (29 points), the visiting Class 5A Grizzlies were able to build an early lead that reached the mid-teens before the Challengers gradually chipped away and made the plays that mattered down the stretch for a wild 73-70 triumph.

Brady Kleker connected on a 3-pointer on a third-chance effort by Cascade Christian to give his team its first lead of the contest with two minutes remaining and energize the 3A fifth-ranked Challengers (5-2) at 69-68.

A hustle play by Deryk Farmer for a rebound and ensuing putback basket pushed Cascade Christian’s lead to 71-68 soon after and — following two free throws by Harrower — Farmer again showed good hands to corral a loose ball rebound and ultimately get fouled with 16.8 seconds remaining.

Farmer went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line to make it 72-70. On Ashland’s ensuing possession, Harrower sent a crosscourt pass to teammate Diego Hernandez, who made a jab step before driving right and pulling up for a short-range jumper over Kleker and Cade Goldade. The shot glanced off the rim and Farmer again was able to track it down, breaking from the pack before getting fouled by the ninth-ranked Grizzlies (6-3) with 2.9 seconds remaining.

Farmer again made 1-of-2 foul shots and held his breath as Harrower’s final 3-point heave from the opposite free-throw line fell well short of its mark across the court at the buzzer.

Farmer finished with a career-high 29 points to go with 11 rebounds and two assists to help rally the Challengers, while Jaren Fronckowiak recorded 10 of his 16 points in the second half and also had six rebounds and four assists.

Hudson Gotzman also came up big with 10 points off the bench for Cascade.

ASHLAND (70): Rountree 0, Harrower 31, Harper 6, Hernandez 0, Matsdorf 3, Tourzan 28, Wieczorek 2. Totals: 24 13-15 70.

CASCADE CHRISTIAN (73): Richardson 6, Fronckowiak 16, Kleker 7, Willard 0, Farmer 29, Goldade 3, Snowden 2, Gotzman 10, Alvarez 0. Totals: 27 12-16 73.

Ashland 12 26 23 9 — 70

Cascade Christian 9 21 23 20 — 73

3-point goals — Ashland 9 (Harrower 5, Harper 2, Matsdorf 1, Tourzan 1), Cascade Christian 7 (Gotzman 3, Richardson 2, Kleker 1, Farmer 1).

PHOENIX 59, NORTH VALLEY 30: Lucas Wihtol posted a career-best 20 points and Martin Ortega added 13 points to lead Phoenix to its only win at the Cascade Christian Christmas Classic.

The Pirates (5-5) snapped a five-game losing skid after outscoring North Valley 33-11 in the second half.

PHOENIX (59): Wihtol 20, Decker 6, Pyeatt 8, McQueen 2, Akpan 4, Ortega 13, Dobbins 2, Govenor 3, Roman 3.

NORTH VALLEY (30): Brazier 2, Taylor 0, Kissel 0, Hemsley 1, Goode 0, Allison 3, Champion 5, Smith 9, Freedman 10.

Phoenix 14 12 14 19 — 59

North Valley 9 10 5 6 — 30

3-point goals — Phoenix 7 (Wihtol 3, Decker 2, Ortega 1, Roman 1), North Valley 2 (Champion 1, Smith 1).

Girls Basketball

BENSON 55, SOUTH MEDFORD 49: At Portland, Sara Schmerbach compiled 20 points, 12 rebounds and six steals but a wayward fourth quarter proved costly for second-ranked South Medford in a rematch of last year’s Class 6A championship final during the POA Holiday Classic.

Playing in the semifinals of the Platinum bracket, the Panthers (7-2) led 42-37 entering the final quarter before the Astros (4-1) surged with a closing 18-7 run.

Mayen Akpan collected 13 points and seven rebounds and Jordan Barlow had nine points, three assists and three steals for South Medford.

Kelyn Johnson knocked down five 3-pointers to lead Benson with 19 points.

SOUTH MEDFORD (49): Richardson 2, Taulani 0, Schmerbach 20, Barlow 9, Howell 5, Akpan 13, Andersen 0.

BENSON (55): Young 2, Beasley 8, McKelvey 2, Phillips 1, Delaney 0, Johnson 19, Dyton 0, McDonald 0, Lackey 11, Massey 12.

South Medford 11 19 12 7 — 49

Benson 6 17 14 18 — 55

3-point goals — South Medford 1 (Barlow 1), Benson 6 (Johnson 5, Beasley 1).

MISSION SAN JOSE 56, NORTH MEDFORD 44: At Martinez, Calif., Riley Smalley created six points, five assists and three rebounds and Mariah Lane scored nine points with three rebounds to lead North Medford at the West Coast Jamboree.

Sophia West added eight points, three steals and two assists and Caleigh Raines posted six rebounds, five assists, four blocks and three steals for the Black Tornado (3-7).

NORTH MEDFORD (44): Brownlee 5, Gomez 0, Smalley 6, Miller 2, West 8, Taylor 0, Raines 5, Canton 3, Verduzco 2, Lane 9, Leggett 4. Totals: 18-53 0-4 44.

MISSION SAN JOSE (56): Arora 9, Ginjupalli 3, Bhatis 0, Jhawar 2, Giardina 3, Teo 5, Yu 8, Vijay 0, Wu 10, Devineni 2, Patel 14, Tandyala 0. Totals: 23-58 3-6 56.

North Medford 13 10 12 9 — 44

Mission San Jose 11 11 19 15 — 56

3-point goals — North Medford 8-25 (Brownlee 1, West 2, Raines 1, Canton 1, Lane 3), Mission San Jose 7-19 (Arora 3, Giardina 1, Teo 1, Patel 2).

ST. JOSEPH’S 78, CRATER 69: At Portland, Taylor Young pumped in 30 points and Sage Winslow added 22 points but Crater suffered its first loss of the season during the semifinal round of the Sapphire bracket at the POA Holiday Classic at Grant High.

The Comets, who are ranked No. 1 at the Class 5A level, moved to 9-1 with the loss to the California squad.

Lydia Traore added eight points and Addi Dippel scored six points for Crater, which will next play Beaverton at 6:30 p.m. Monday to wrap up the tournament.

CASCADE 51, CASCADE CHRISTIAN 43: Isabel McCauley posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds and added four steals with two blocks but Cascade Christian was unable to recover from an early deficit in the championship game of the Cascade Christian Christmas Classic.

Jordynn Jones added 11 points, six rebounds and two blocks and Emma Coats had seven points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists for the Challengers (5-2).

Rozalyn Schmunk finished with 17 points and Olivia Bennett had 16 for Cascade (7-2), which opened an 18-8 lead through one quarter.

CASCADE (51): Bennett 16, Hammer 0, Newton 0, Dabrkovsky 4, Randall 0, Schmunk 17, Crabtree 7, Klampe 2, Pruett 5.

CASCADE CHRISTIAN (43): Brehm 0, Coppedge 0, Wilcox 1, I. McCauley 20, Samhammer 0, Folin 0, Coats 7, Jones 11, Arce 4, G. McCauley 0.

Cascade 18 10 17 6 — 51

Cascade Christian 8 8 13 14 — 43

3-point goals — Cascade 6 (Bennett 3, Crabtree 2, Pruett 1), Cascade Christian 3 (I. McCauley 2, Coats 1). Fouled out — Crabtree.

NORTH VALLEY 38, PHOENIX 24: Alissa Alvarez produced 13 points and 12 rebounds for Phoenix in the third-place final of the Cascade Christian Christmas Classic.

Carsyn Sousa added eight points for the Pirates (6-4).

PHOENIX (24): Sousa 8, Woodward 3, Mugora 0, Alvarez 13, Foster 0, Ponce 0.

NORTH VALLEY (38): Estes 18, Smith 4, J. Godfrey 6, S. Godfrey 4, Brito 6.

Phoenix 9 4 2 9 — 24

North Valley 8 12 8 10 — 38