HOWE TOPS CASHION
Lions score final 10 points to end Cashion's season in Class 2A quarterfinals.
CASHION'S Landon LaGasse (2) is fouled while shooting by Howe's Caleb Shafer. [Photo by BRAD STONE]
Cashion never got that one shot to drop.
And now the Wildcats’ season is over.
Howe scored the game’s final 10 points Thursday at State Fair Arena to pull out a 47-37 victory in the boys Class 2A quarterfinals.
The seventh-ranked Lions staked a 14-point second-quarter lead and were up 10 points at the half.
The second half started with an instant Cashion comeback as the Wildcats used a 9-0 run to pull within a point.
Twice in the third quarter and five more times in the fourth, Cashion had a possession with the chance to take the lead, but never could convert.
The Wildcats, however, were able to tie it up on Nick Nabavi’s 3-pointer with 2:22 left. It was the first time since the first two minutes of the game that Cashion didn’t trail.
The Lions’ Eduardo Sanchez answered as he penetrated for a bucket to give his team a lead with 1:40 left and that was the start of a 10-0 run.
Cashion’s next four possessions ended with three turnovers and a missed field goal.
Makes were tough to find for Cashion, which was 14 of 45 overall.
It was just 23 percent in the first half as the Wildcats faced the early deficit.
After Vance Raney’s bucket at 4:18 of the first quarter pulled Cashion within 7-6, Howe went on a 9-0 run.
That stretched into a 16-3 spurt into the second quarter as the Lions went up 23-9.
Cashion scored six straight, but Howe was able to push it back to 27-17 at the half.
Vance Raney opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer and that was followed by three straight Jonah Jenkins buckets as Cashion found itself within 27-26.
Over the next 9:18 of the game, Howe’s lead bounced between one and three points as the Lions couldn’t build a cushion, but Cashion couldn’t get the crucial go-ahead bucket.
Howe shot 50 percent overall, including an efficient 14 of 21 inside the arc. The Lions were also 13 of 20 from the foul line.
Cashion attempted just eight free throws. The Wildcats were also 4 of 20 (20 percent) from 3-point range.
The fourth-ranked Wildcats were led by Jenkins’ 12 points
Raney and Austin Frazier scored eight apiece.
Although Cashion qualified for state last season (canceled due to COVID-19), the Wildcats were playing in a state tournament game for the first time since 1996.