By Jeff Robison
GREENCASTLE — Zone defenses aren’t used that often in high school basketball anymore, but the Cascade Cadets found themselves confounded by one employed by the South Putnam Eagles on Wednesday night as the host Eagles defeated the Cadets 55-47 to win the 2009 Eagle Holiday Classic.
Cascade got off to a strong start in pulling ahead 11-4 after Alex Arthur hit a pair of early threes and Jeffrey Hopper also hit from near the arc.
But those shots stopped falling after the first quarter as South Putnam’s 2-3 zone defense seemed to take the air out of Cascade’s offense for the next two quarters. The Cadets, who scored 16 points in the opening stanza, were limited to a combined 16 points across the next two periods.
Meanwhile, South Putnam stayed aggressive in the paint on the way to a 38-18 board advantage as they took control on the way to just their second win of the year — both wins coming in the Classic.
Cascade coach Chris DuBois admitted his young team may have been fooled a bit by the zone defense.
“The bad thing was that we hit some jump shots early, and we settled for those shots,” DuBois said. “This was the first time we’ve played a team that primarily plays the zone, and we just didn’t attack it at all.”
After shooting better than 50 percent (5-of-9) in the first quarter, the Cadets struggled from the field the rest of the way, tailing off to just 12-of-33 thereafter.
DuBois was especially disappointed in the way his team followed their shots. The Cadets gathered just six offensive rebounds, and half of those came in the fourth quarter.
By contrast, South Putnam had 15 offensive recoveries, including at least ten points coming on put-backs.
“(South Putnam) was very good on both ends of the floor — we tried to block them out, but we just didn’t get it done,” DuBois said. “(Adam) Masters, (Cameron) Chestnut, and (Derek) Dean really got it done and helped get some easy put backs.”
That trio combined for 25 of the rebounds. Meanwhile, Chestnut was the game’s high scorer with 22 points.
Early in the second half, Cascade briefly went ahead, but once Brayden Freeman broke a 27-27 tie with 4:13 in the third quarter, the Cadets never got back to a tie or took the lead.
The Eagles actually got their edge up to 10 points in the final quarter before Cascade made a late rally attempt. Josh Daugherty hit a three, while Alex Arthur scored a basket and bonus free throw off Daugherty’s assist to close to 50-47 in the final minute.
However, the Eagles shored up their win with five of six free throws down the stretch.
“This was a learning experience for us,” DuBois said, with a reference to the Cadets’ overtime win on Tuesday night over North Vermillion.
“It was a big confidence builder to make the championship game,” DuBois added. “South Putnam is a much better team than when we beat them earlier in the year.”
Alex Arthur led the Cadets with 17 points, helping earn him All-Tourney recognition. Hopper also made the All-Tourney team for Cascade. South Putnam’s choices were Chestnut and Masters, while Clay City’s Logan Higgins got the fifth spot.
Cascade closes out the 2009 portion of the slate at 2-6. Next up for the Cadets will be the Hendricks County Tournament, where Cascade has drawn tournament favorite Danville in its opening contest.
