Two postponements created a milestone delay but in some ways proved fitting as Cascade Christian boys basketball head coach Brian Morse recorded his 700th career victory Saturday evening in Merlin.

The Challengers, ranked No. 5 in the Class 3A coaches poll, used a dominant second quarter to help pull away from North Valley for an eventual 75-29 victory in the Southern Oregon Conference contest.

Morse became the fifth boys basketball coach in Oregon history to hit the 700-win mark, trailing only Mike Doherty (850-390), Gary Hull (786-254), Craig Rothenberger (715-520) and Tom Johnson (702-349).

Morse and Johnson, who guides Class 6A Barlow, are the only active coaches on that list.

“It just kind of seems surreal to me because I never thought that I would ever get to this number,” said Morse, “and so I didn’t think about it too much.”

Cascade Christian (14-4, 6-0 SOC) was slated to vie for win No. 700 at home this past Tuesday before a snowstorm in Medford forced the school to postpone its matchup with Rogue River. With road conditions still at issue, the Challengers then had to cancel a potential road date two days later against Lost River.

That left the milestone to be earned in another school’s gymnasium, which was fine by Morse.

“I’m not a huge spotlight guy anyways so it was kind of cool with it being at North Valley and it kind of quietly done, which was nice,” said Morse, whose Challengers have earned the last three 3A state championships. “I kind of loved that.”

Following the contest, an announcement was made to the crowd that Morse had secured his 700th victory, which was met with applause, and then the coach was greeted with a dousing of water by his players upon entering the locker room after the game.

Both elements were greatly appreciated, although Morse couldn’t help but slip into coach mode with the latter.

“The guys doused me with water from cups and things and I’m like, ‘Oh no, let’s not do that, now we’ve got to clean up this mess with water everywhere,’” Morse said with a laugh.

In many ways, however, the 700th victory felt just like any other for Morse, who is only 58 years old and has no designs on leaving the coaching world anytime soon. This is his 37th season at the helm at Cascade Christian.

“I guess it would be a little bit different if I was going to be done and if this is my last year coaching or something, but I want to keep coaching,” said Morse. “It’s a big number, but the significance is not too great because I want to keep going.”

“It is kind of cool and it’s been nice to hear from my former players and coaches with a barrage of text messages,” he added of the milestone, “but it’s also just a fun thing to be able to coach with these boys.”

Jaren Fronckowiak and Bryley Richardson each connected for three 3-pointers as Cascade Christian finished with a dozen makes from beyond the arc. The Challengers held an eight-point lead through one quarter before a 24-9 surge in the second quarter eliminated all doubt in the final outcome.

Fronckowiak finished with 15 points, two assists and two steals, while Richardson had 13 points, four steals and four rebounds and freshman Andy Alvarez made the most of a rare start created by the absence of junior standout Deryk Farmer in posting nine rebounds, four steals and two assists.

Brady Kleker chipped in with 10 points and three steals in a balanced effort that saw 11 players tally at least one point for the Challengers.

Carson Smith scored eight points and Dane Kissel had seven points to lead North Valley (7-14, 3-4).

How much longer Morse plans on coaching hasn’t been much of a discussion, beyond floating the idea of him still being around at Cascade Christian for when his grandson hopefully is ready to take the court in another decade or so.

“I would love to be able to coach my oldest grandson, it would be really cool,” said Morse. “I saw Craig Rothenberger coach his grandsons two years ago when we played them at their place in his last year (at Junction City). He had two of his grandsons in the starting five and I thought that was just so cool to see, and I thought, man, that would be really cool to coach my grandson someday. That would be a goal for me to do, but that may not happen. As of now, I just want to keep going, and this (700th win) is just along the path of this journey.”

CASCADE CHRISTIAN (75): Richardson 13, Fronckowiak 15, Kleker 10, Casebeer 4, Willard 6, Goldade 8, Snowden 1, Gotzman 9, Alvarez 3, Beamish 2, Murphy 4, Darland 0. Totals: 28 7-10 75.

NORTH VALLEY (29): Brazier 2, Kissel 7, Sifre 0, Hemsley 2, Biles 0, Champion 5, Smith 8, Freedman 5. Totals: 13 1-4 29.

Cascade Christian 13 24 23 15 — 75

North Valley 5 9 6 9 — 29

3-point goals — Cascade Christian 12 (Richardson 3, Fronckowiak 3, Kleker 2, Goldade 2, Gotzman 2), North Valley 2 (Kissel 1, Champion 1).

SHELDON 71, SOUTH MEDFORD 43: At Eugene, South Medford exhibited all the ill effects of having not played a game in a week and a half, struggling to find a rhythm and falling behind early in the Southwest Conference loss.

Quinton Ritchie scored 14 points and the Panthers (8-11, 4-3 SWC) got eight points apiece from Cole Adee and Jed Johnson in South Medford’s first game since Jan. 28.

Sheldon, which entered the game holding a 2 ½-game lead on South Medford and North Medford in the SWC standings, opened a 12-5 lead through one quarter but broke the game open with a 27-17 edge in the second quarter.

Rocco Graziano connected on five of Sheldon’s 11 3-pointers and totaled 22 points, while Nathan Sheley scored 18 points and Eli Forsha had 14 for the Irish (16-5, 8-0).

SOUTH MEDFORD (43): Hopkins 0, Tannaci 2, Adee 8, Dufour 0, Spires 0, Ritchie 14, Clevenger 5, Johnson 8, VonStrahl 2, Carson 0, Mitchell 4. Totals: 18 5-5 43.

SHELDON (71): Raz 0, Marzano 0, Gallic 7, McMillan 0, Graziano 22, Sheley 18, Alvarado 8, Forsha 14, Sperry 2, Cupp 0, Hudson 0. Totals: 28 4-6 71.

South Medford 5 17 15 6 — 43

Sheldon 12 27 23 9 — 71

3-point goals — South Medford 2 (Johnson 2), Sheldon 11 (Graziano 5, Sheley 3, Alvarado 2, Gallic 1).

Girls Basketball

CASCADE CHRISTIAN 58, NORTH VALLEY 18: At Merlin, Isabel McCauley contributed 20 points, six steals, six rebounds and three assists to lead Cascade Christian to the Southern Oregon Conference victory.

Jordynn Jones supplied 13 points, seven steals and four assists for the No. 5-ranked Challengers (15-4, 6-0 SOC), while Grace McCauley grabbed seven rebounds to go with four steals and three assists.

Bella Smith led North Valley (8-13, 1-6) with six points.

CASCADE CHRISTIAN (58): Brehm 1, Coppedge 2, Wilcox 0, Ferreira 2, I. McCauley 20, Samhammer 2, Vanlandingham 0, Coats 7, Jones 13, Davis 0, Arce 9, G. McCauley 2, Madden 0, Fortier 0. Totals: 21 13-16 58.

NORTH VALLEY (18): Estes 5, Smith 6, J. Godfrey 3, A. Violette 0, M. Violette 0, Peck 0, Aros 0, Schwenn 0, S. Godfrey 0, Brito 4, Davis 0, Wright 0, Champion 0. Totals: 8 0-0 18.

Cascade Christian 9 18 25 6 — 58

North Valley 7 2 9 0 — 18

3-point goals — Cascade Christian 3 (Jones 2, I. McCauley 1), North Valley 2 (Estes 1, J. Godfrey 1).