No. 6-seeded Challengers come up short against No. 3 Valley Catholic to halt hopes of a fourth straight 3A state title

Typically the team capable of coming up with all the hustle plays, sixth-seeded Cascade Christian found itself in the wrong end of that situation Thursday night and it proved costly in the opening round of the Class 3A boys basketball state tournament in Coos Bay.

Third-seeded Valley Catholic was able to use its height advantage as well as inspired play by its senior-led squad to gradually pull away from the three-time reigning state champion Challengers for a 55-43 victory at Marshfield High.

The Valiants held a 17-8 lead in second-chance points, and outrebounded Cascade Christian by a 41-31 margin to snap the Challengers’ winning streak in the state playoffs at 13 games.

“We executed our game plan well,” said Cascade Christian head coach Brian Morse, “but when it came down to it, Valley Catholic was bigger, stronger and faster than us, and we just did not compete for every ball.”

“They had a lot of second chances where we didn’t come up with a defensive rebound, and we just didn’t finish the play,” he added. “We’d get a blocked shot or a stop and stop playing, and then they would get it and lay it up.”

“I don’t know what our 50-50 count was, but we lost way more than the majority of those balls.

We played hard for 32 minutes, so that was not the issue. It’s just coming down to those loose balls and those big rebounds, we did not do what we needed to do.”

Cascade Christian (20-5) tied the game at 17-all about two minutes into the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Bryley Richardson, but Jackson Farris answered with a three-point play — on a second- and third-chance opportunity — for Valley Catholic (20-7).

The Valiants held the lead for the rest of the game, playing ahead for nearly 25 ½ minutes of the 32-minute state quarterfinal.

“We tried, we just didn’t compete at that highest level,” said Morse. “That was kind of a hard pill to swallow, because I never want to be outworked by another team. But in those 50-50 aspects of the game, they outworked us.”

Cascade Christian senior guard Jaren Fronckowiak went 5-for-9 from the field — including 4-for-6 from 3-point range — to account for 14 points. In his third trip to the final site, Fronckowiak also managed seven rebounds and two assists.

Deryk Farmer grabbed nine rebounds to go with three assists and two steals, but was 3-for-13 from the field in scoring seven points for the Challengers.

Valley Catholic was able to challenge almost all of Cascade Christian’s shots, a feat that was a little easier as the Challengers focused more on the 3-point line than getting to the basket as in years past. Part of that was due to the makeup of Cascade’s roster and the team’s strengths, but the 3-pointers weren’t falling on this night — the Challengers went 8-for-25 from beyond the arc — and many of those shots came with a hand in their face.

“If you’re hitting those tough outside shots, it changes things, but you’ve got to make the right basketball play,” said Morse. “If we actually got a foot into the paint driving, they would collapse on you, and then we could make the kickout pass and maybe even one more pass on a long close out. The couple times we did that, we got a really good look and we scored, but we just didn’t do it enough.”

Freshman Andy Alvarez came off the bench to provide eight points, five rebounds and two blocked shots to give Cascade a jolt on the interior, while Brady Kleker had six points, four rebounds and three assists.

Luke Jarussi scored all 12 of his points in the paint for Valley Catholic and finished with eight rebounds and three blocks, while Farris added nine points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals. Zach Pippin was 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, scoring 10 points to go with eight rebounds and four assists.

The Valiants went 8-for-12 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and 16-for-23 overall, compared to 1-for-4 for Cascade.

The Challengers will face an elimination game at 10:45 a.m. Friday against 10th-seeded Creswell, which lost 61-47 to No. 2 Pleasant Hill in the quarterfinals.

“We have a chance to make some positive mental changes and come out tomorrow and represent, and we’re still playing for a trophy,” said Morse. “Our goal now is to be playing Saturday for fourth place.”

CASCADE CHRISTIAN (20-5)

Bryley Richardson 1-7 0-2 3, Jaren Fronckowiak 5-9 0-0 14, Brady Kleker 2-5 0-0 6, Deryk Farmer 3-13 1-2 7, Cade Goldade 2-8 0-0 5, Hudson Gotzman 0-2 0-0 0, Andy Alvarez 4-7 0-0 8. Totals: 17-51 1-4 43.

VALLEY CATHOLIC (20-7)

Zach Pippin 1-9 8-8 10, Justin Han 2-5 2-2 7, Luke Jarussi 6-7 0-0 12, Jackson Farris 4-13 1-3 9, Dylan Trobetsky 0-1 1-2 1, Cooper Bonnett 0-0 0-2 0, Marcos Mueller 0-0 0-0 0, Garrett Frank 3-6 2-4 8, Hank Lomber 1-4 2-2 5, Zach Eddy 0-2 0-0 0, Michael Mehta 1-2 0-0 3, Gavin Galan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-49 16-23 55.

Cascade Christian 10 10 10 13 — 43

Valley Catholic 13 13 11 18 — 55

3-point goals — Cascade Christian 8-25 (Bryley Richardson 1-3, Jaren Fronckowiak 4-6, Brady Kleker 2-4, Deryk Farmer 0-4, Cade Goldade 1-7, Hudson Gotzman 0-1), Valley Catholic 3-13 (Zach Pippin 0-3, Justin Han 1-4, Garrett Frank 0-1, Hank Lomber 1-3, Michael Mehta 1-2). Fouled out — Bryley Richardson. Rebounds — Cascade Christian 31 (Deryk Farmer 9), Valley Catholic 41 Jackson Farris 11). Assists — Cascade Christian 10 (Brady Kleker 3, Deryk Farmer 3), Valley Catholic 10 (Zach Pippin 4) Total fouls — Cascade Christian 15, Valley Catholic 9.

Reach sports editor Kris Henry at khenry@rv-times.com or 458-488-2035