BROWNSBURG — Senior night festivities took place before the Bethesda Christian Patriots and Cascade Cadet boys’ basketball teams took the floor Friday night. Unfortunately for Bethesda and its seniors, the Patriots could not come away with a victory as the visiting Cadets pulled out a 50-43 win.
“Anytime you go on the road it is hard to win and while Bethesda’s record isn’t very good, they have some good athletes on the team,” Cascade coach Chris Dubois said.
Bethesda took an early 2-0 lead and closed in on the Cadets during the fourth quarter, tying the game at 41-41 with just over three minutes left, but could not find a way to win.
“It was the same story as last Friday night where we were tied up late with a pretty good team and we can’t execute in the fourth,” Bethesda coach Cary Chandler said. “We are struggling to execute and run offense in the end of the fourth quarter.”
Cascade led 12-8 after the first period as each team committed several turnovers and did not shoot the ball particularly well.
However, Cascade outscored Bethesda 16-7 in the second period and led 28-15 at the half.
Bethesda answered in the third quarter as the Patriots switched roles with the Cadets, outscoring them 17-7 to pull within three heading into the fourth.
“That was our second team that came in, ran offense, made the correct reads, screened hard, got some open shots and defended every single one of their shots and went after the ball on the boards,” Chandler said. “They just did a phenomenal job of getting us back in the ballgame.”
Poor shooting plagued the Cadets in the second half as they went 6-of-23 from the field in the final two periods, but defense and free throw shooting kept them in control.
“I told my guys I was proud of them for staying mentally tough at the end of the game,” Dubois said. “We made smart passes, did things right and knocked down some free throws to ice the game.”
Cascade’s J.T. Thomas hit 8-of-10 free throws in the fourth and five in the last minute of the game for the Cadets.
Both teams had two players score in double figures.
Cascade’s Jeffrey Hopper led all scorers with 21 points and Thomas added 16. Bethesda’s Malik Roper and George Wion both had a team-high 13 for the Patriots.
Cascade (12-5) has now won 6-of-7 games and seems to be on a roll heading into sectional play with four contests remaining on its schedule.
“We haven’t been in many close games and I told these guys this was good to be in a game like this so when we are in sectionals we can be poised and execute down the stretch,” Dubois said.
Bethesda (3-12) has now lost four consecutive games, but Chandler is optimistic that come sectional time they could possibly put it all together and make a run.
“We will continue to try to execute in practice the best that we can and go over and over it again to where it is habit and they are not thinking, but just reading the defense,” he said. “We are still in the mode that when the pressure builds, we forget what we are supposed to do.”
Regardless of the outcome, Chandler spoke highly of each of the Patriot’s three outgoing seniors.
“George has great athletic ability and his heart is huge for young kids and people,” Chandler said. “Danny (Mulvaney) in comparison from last year, is much more focused and team oriented and has developed into a spiritual leader for our team because he has his priorities set where they should be. Matt (Wilson) has come on late because he is persistent and he has not given up. He practices hard and communicates with me more than any other player. I really enjoy spending time with him.”
Wilson finished the night with five points and four rebounds while Mulvaney tallied four points and five rebounds. Wion pulled down 10 rebounds along with his 13-point effort for the game’s only double-double.
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