Late steal, free throws by Farmer help Challengers tip De La Salle North Catholic; Cascade girls settle for sixth place

If ever there was a yes, yes, yes moment followed instantly by no, no, no for a head coach, Cascade Christian boys basketball coach Brian Morse experienced that Saturday morning in the fourth-place final of the Class 3A state championships at Coos Bay.

Fortunately for Morse and company, it was one of those times that a player backed up his decision-making with a clutch effort that led to a 43-40 triumph over De La Salle North Catholic.

And, really, when junior guard Deryk Farmer picked off a pass by the Knights with about 20 seconds on the clock, it looked like the kind of wily veteran strategy from a coach with 700-plus wins when Farmer passed up a wide-open lane for a layup and curled around the paint and back toward midcourt before being fouled with 12 seconds to go and Cascade up 41-40.

De La Salle North Catholic was under the foul limit, so it took two more fouls — after two successful inbounds passes — before Farmer found himself on the free-throw line with 8.8 seconds remaining.

Showing the utmost faith and confidence, Farmer calmly cashed in both free throws — he was 2-for-7 from the stripe before then for the tourney — to create a three-point cushion, and the Challengers (22-5) wound up defending well a 3-point shot at the buzzer by Josh Hickox to seal the victory.

Morse laughed about the heart-pounding final few seconds after the fact Saturday, knowing full well that there would be some question on Cascade’s ingenious strategy to squeeze out more time on the clock before shoring up the fourth-place trophy.

Surely it was discussed with all the players and planned, right?

“We wanted him to lay it up,” Morse said in exclamatory fashion, still laughing about how it all played out hours after the fact. “In fact, I’m kind of running down the sideline going, ‘Yes, we’re going to get a layup and we’ll be up three.’”

“And then, as soon as he dribbles around, I turn around and put my hands on my head and I’m like, ‘What are we doing?” added Morse, ever the worrier. “Because I knew that they had to foul us three more times to get free throws, and I’m thinking there’s more chance now for us turning it over because they can put defensive pressure on and get a steal, and then you still have to make the free throws to match the two points that you could’ve gotten from the layup. But it was OK, he made them. I just laugh because that’s just typical Farmer, he does things like that.”

Farmer also does things like come up with big plays when they’re needed most, and that’s exactly what Cascade Christian needed in a struggle of a back-and-forth contest with the Knights (15-15) for the fourth straight state tourney. He finished with nine points, eight rebounds and two steals.

“That was the big thing,” said Morse. “He gets the big steal — jumps in front and grabs it away — which was awesome. I was very excited for that, and he did good.”

Farmer’s dramatic heroics came on the heels of equally clutch play by senior Jaren Fronckowiak, who scored nine of his team’s 13 points in the final quarter to counter De La Salle North Catholic.

Fronckowiak hit his second 3-pointer of the fourth quarter to create a 40-37 lead with 2:14 to play and, after the Knights drew back even at 40-all, the senior guard drew a foul and went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line to put his team ahead for good.

Fronckowiak, who was a key player in the past two runs to the 3A title, finished with 19 points and five rebounds.

“All game our offense had trouble scoring and we weren’t getting good looks,” said Morse, “but finally in the fourth, Fronckowiak started hitting some big shots for us — like we would expect him to do, and he did, and got us a lead.”

Following a timeout by the Knights, Hickox was trying to enter a pass inside to standout center Jaylen Hill, but Farmer leaped into the flight of the pass and was off to the races.

“It was a good way for those seniors to go out with a win on Saturday,” said Morse. “They took the challenge after losing on Thursday night, so it’s good that they came home with the fourth-place trophy, and I’m happy that it ended well for us.”

Hill, a 3A player of the year candidate, was limited to nine points on 4-for-12 shooting thanks to a steady defensive effort by Cade Goldade and company. Hill also contributed 12 rebounds and five assists for the Knights, with Hickox scoring 11 points on 4-for-21 shooting on a day when neither team finished better than 29% from the field.

DE LA SALLE NORTH CATHOLIC (40): Yared 7, Jackson 4, Hill 9, Hickox 11, Stidum 9, Abuna 0, Sandoval 0, Ajak 0. Totals: 14-50 8-14 40.

CASCADE CHRISTIAN (43): Richardson 0, Fronckowiak 19, Kleker 5, Farmer 9, Goldade 4, Munoz 0, Willard 1, Snowden 0, Gotzman 3, Alvarez 2. Totals: 13-45 13-18 43.

De La Salle North Catholic 5 11 14 10 — 40

Cascade Christian 2 15 13 13 — 43

3-point goals — De La Salle North Catholic 4-24 (Hickox 3, Yared 1), Cascade Christian 4-18 (Fronckowiak 2, Kleker 1, Gotzman 1). Technical fouls — Hill.

Girls Basketball

BURNS 66, CASCADE CHRISTIAN 51: At Coos Bay, fourth-seeded Cascade Christian saw a 45-40 lead disappear and then some in the fourth quarter as No. 11 Burns closed on a 26-6 run in the final seven minutes to claim the fourth-place trophy.

Isabel McCauley scored 30 points after going 6-for-14 from beyond the arc and 10-for-20 overall for the Challengers (23-6), and also had six rebounds and four steals to help Cascade earn its first state trophy in 13 years.

Turnovers on seven straight possessions allowed Burns (21-8) to climb back into the game and build a 53-45 lead before McCauley was able to break the drought with a layup. Four more turnovers against the defensive pressure by Burns and a missed shot later, and Cascade found itself trailing 59-47 with about 2 ½ minutes remaining.

Burns tallied 15 points off turnovers and had seven second-chance points in the final frame, but only finished with three fewer turnovers (24) than the Challengers (27) overall.

Emma Coats finished with seven points and four steals for Cascade, and Jordynn Jones led with seven rebounds and three assists to go with five points.

Isabel McCauley was a unanimous all-tournament selection after posting a tournament single-game record 42 points in the consolation semifinals Saturday against Coquille. Ally Schimmel previously held the post-2007 mark for the 3A level at 39 points, set last year for Corbett against Amity. McCauley connected on 13 of 21 field goals and was 14-for-15 from the free-throw line against Coquille, and also pulled in 10 rebounds with eight steals.

BURNS (66): Temple 0, Robbins 2, Kaino 32, Horrell 13, Ballard 17, Glascock 0, Samples 2, Montague 0. Totals: 28-57 5-9 66.

CASCADE CHRISTIAN (51): I. McCauley 30, Coats 7, Jones 5, Arce 5, G. McCauley 2, Brehm 0, Wilcox 2, Samhammer 0. Totals: 16-47 12-15 51.

Burns 13 14 12 27 — 66

Cascade Christian 8 15 18 10 — 51

3-point goals — Burns 5-13 (Ballard 5), Cascade Christian 7-23 (I. McCauley 6, Arce 1).

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