Cascade rallies in 4th quarter to beat Marysville Pilchuck 60-53

Published 10:30 pm Tuesday, December 1, 2015

EVERETT — Through three quarters, the visiting Marysville Pilchuck boys basketball team gave Cascade all it could handle on Tuesday night. The Tomahawks led for most of the first three periods and by as many as nine points.

But in the fourth quarter, a veteran Cascade team finally started to play like it.

Trailing by eight early in the final period, the Bruins ran off 13 straight points to take a lead they never lost. Midway through the quarter Marysville Pilchuck rallied briefly, but Cascade again went on a run, scoring the game’s final six points for a 60-53 non-conference victory in the season opener for both teams.

“In the first half I wasn’t real happy with what we were doing,” said Bruins head coach Darrell McNeal. “I felt like we were trying to be a bunch of individuals and not a team. And I felt like we were settling for 3s and not taking advantage of our size inside.

“So going into halftime we made a couple of adjustments … and then we came back out and did a better job of executing. We played more as a team versus a bunch of individuals.”

Cascade, coming off a trip to the state regionals last season, got 19 points from center Isaiah Gotell and 16 points from guard Cameron McGrath, both returning starters from a year ago. Guard Drew Magaoay, a transfer, chipped in 17 points.

In particular, it was McGrath who sparked the Bruins offensively in the second half. After struggling with his outside shot in the first half (he had just two points after an early layin), he started the third quarter with a 3-pointer and later added two layins, and then began the fourth period with another 3-pointer and added four more points down the stretch.

“We showed some good poise (late in the game), but that’s what a good, veteran team is supposed to be like,” McNeal said. “I’m definitely proud of their second-half effort, and I’m definitely proud of the way they settled down and took care of business.”

Coming off a strong season a year ago, “these guys have such high expectations,” he added. “But my expectations start with having good practices. And that’s not an expectation, that’s a demand. To have good, intense practices so that we’re prepared for games like this … and then let’s just keep getting better.”

Marysville Pilchuck, meanwhile, was playing short-handed. Starting point guard Bryce Juneau is out for a time with a stress fracture in his leg, and Erik Lind and Kyle Kauk, both inside players and potential starters, were short on required practices for the first game.

Still, the Tomahawks got 17 first-half points from guard Josh Bevan, on his way to a game-high 20 points, and post Tyler McDonald — a usual backup pressed into a starting role Tuesday — had eight of his 10 points in the first half as Marysville Pilchuck jumped out early.

“We obviously want to win every game we play, but at the same time we play (a tough) non-conference schedule so we can be tested,” said Tomahawks coach Bary Gould. And despite the loss to Cascade, he said, there were “tons of bright spots.”

“Obviously we would’ve hoped to hold on in the fourth quarter and get the W, but playing with seven (players), maybe our stamina wasn’t there. … But we want games like this. We want to battle back and forth, and now we have one more game of experience so we’re excited to look forward.”

At Cascade H.S.

M. Pilchuck 11 20 15 7 —53

Cascade 9 18 14 19 —60

Marysville Pilchuck—Hunter Whitney 0, Josiah Gould 5, Josh Bevan 20, Tommy Haefele 8, Freddy Brown 3, Tyler McDonald 10, Nate Heckendorf 7. Cascade—Trevon Blackmon 0, Santana Saiz 0, Drew Magaoay 17, D’Andre Bryant 4, Cameron McGrath 16, Muhammed Kolly 2, Brennen Hancock 2, Isaiah Gotell 19, Tre Poole 0. Records—Marysville Pilchuck 0-1 overall. Cascade 1-0.