This Class 2A boys hoops district final defensive battle goes the way of Cascade

MONTICELLO - It was low scoring. It was physical. It was intense.

That all checks since it was Highway 151 rivals Monticello and Cascade. In a Class 2A district final boys basketball game, no less.

Some of the other subplots in Cascade’s 41-37 win were unexpected.

Who’d have thought the co-MVPs of the River Valley Conference’s East Division both would struggle offensively. Monticello’s Conley Schauf did score a game-high 15 points, but that was under his season average, and he made just 5 of 20 shots from the field.

Cascade’s Mick Hoffman was held to more than half his season average. He scored 11 points on just 3-of-15 shooting from the field and fouled out with just over a minute left.

Monticello scored two points in the second quarter, two points in the third quarter, trailed by 13 early in the fourth, yet the game somehow was tied with 46 seconds left. Unreal.

After playing mostly man-to-man defense a lot of this season, Cascade Coach Nate McMullen decided to dust off the program’s staple ‘D’ over the last 50 years recently: the 2-3 zone. It worked great here.

By the way, his team didn’t make a 3-pointer in the game. You don’t win often these days without a few of those.

So where to start? Where to start?

How about with Cascade (16-7) moving on to a 2A substate final Saturday night at the University of Northern Iowa’s McLeod Center against fifth-ranked Aplington-Parkersburg (21-3). It’s the second game of a double-header with an 8 p.m. scheduled tip.

“It’s been eight years since we’ve been to the state tournament,” McMullen pointed out.

That would be 2018, when Cascade won the Class 2A state championship. McMullen was an assistant coach for that team.

“What a game,” Hoffman said. “I mean, just the guys out there coming off the bench. You never want to be on the bench in that position, but credit to those guys. I mean, they played great. They got it done for me. So proud of them. They had my backs.”

The offense actually was pretty good in this game in the first quarter. Monticello (16-7) led 16-11, thanks in large part to the Schauf brothers: senior Conley had seven points and freshman Landry six.

Landry Schaulf baseline jumper opened the scoring in the second quarter but would be Monti’s only points. Cascade scored the other eight, Hoffman’s turnaround jumper in the lane giving the Cougars a 19-18 halftime edge.

Once again, Monticello got the first bucket in the third quarter on a Lincoln Schneiter hoop inside on the baseline. But again, the Panthers didn’t score after that.

Cascade took a 28-20 lead to the fourth, with Tyler Smith’s baseball drive for an attempted and-one extending the Cougars lead to 35-22 with about five minutes to go. It looked insurmountable.

“They're a great team there,” said Cascade’s Elijah Casey. “They knocked down a lot of tough shots early but I thought we held up pretty well with 3-pointers, to be honest.”

Just when it seemed over, Monticello finally found some offense. Seven points from Conley Schauf and a Schneiter transition bucket brought the Panthers within 35-29 with under three minutes left.

A Conley Schauf trey and Hayden Hackney and-one three-point play brought Monti within 36-35 with 1:13 left and fouled out Hoffman. Monticello ended up tying it at 37 with 46 seconds left, but Cascade broke a Panthers press, leading to a Casey layup and 39-37 lead.

Monticello decided not to call a timeout, setting up for a final shot that Conley Schauf took from deep beyond the top of the 3-point arc. It missed, with Casey rebounding, getting fouled with 4.3 seconds left and nailing both free throws.

Ballgame over.

“I just saw my opportunity,” Casey said of what probably was the best 20 seconds of his high school career. “I mean, usually, I'm a great offensive rebounder, but, yeah, I've kind of been struggling a little bit this year. But I just saw it, I knew it was coming off the backboard. So I was like ‘Oh, I might go get automatic free throws.’ Yes, free shots in the game.”

“We didn’t deserve to win,” said Monticello Coach Tim Lambert.

His Panthers shot just 27 percent from the field and had only four players score. This was a regroup sort of year for Monti, which started two freshmen and had two prominent sophomores come off the bench.

This experience should bode well for the future.

AT MONTICELLO

CASCADE (41): Jackson Green 4-8 1-2 9, Mick Hoffman 3-15 5-8 15, Brody Otting 4-5 0-0 8, Tyler Smith 2-6 1-3 5, Elijah Casey 3-5 2-2 8, Spencer Boge 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-39 9-15 41.

MONTICELLO (37): Alex Jamison 0-6 0-0 0, Conley Schauf 5-20 2-2 15, Lincoln Schneiter 3-5 0-0 6, Hayden Hackney 2-5 1-1 6, Landry Schauf 4-10 0-0 10, Luke Welter 0-5 0-0 0, Mac Burkle 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 14-52 3-4 37.

Halftime - Cascade 19, Monticello 18. 3-point goals - Cascade 0-7 (Hoffman 0-3, Smith 0-2, Casey 0-2), Monticello 6-28 (Jamison 0-1, C. Schauf 3-13, Hackney 1-3, L. Schauf 2-7, Welter 0-4). Rebounds - Cascade 26 (Hoffman 10), Monticello 33 (C. Schauf 11). Total fouls - Cascade 10, Monticello 12. Fouled out - Hoffman. Turnovers - Cascade 7, Monticello 9.

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