Cascade, retiring coach Al Marshall advance to 2A state basketball championship

DES MOINES – There will be a storybook ending here Friday night. That much is a given.

It's really only fitting the Class 2A boys' state basketball tournament played out this way.

Roaming the sidelines when Cascade meets Western Christian in the 8 p.m. championship will be a combined 1,418 career victories. And there's only one more to be had.

Coach Al Marshall's patented zone defense stifled No. 8-seeded Pella Christian in a 51-36 semifinal victory Thursday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena to advance fourth-seeded Cascade to its first state title game in Marshall's career.

Iowa's third all-time winningest coach, Marshall (738-326), who's spent 47 years at Cascade and Cascade Aquin, announced his retirement before the season. His counterpart Friday, seven-time state-champion Jim Eekhoff (680-143), did the same before the state tournament.

'I questioned whether I should announce my retirement ahead of time at the beginning of the year, but I'm really glad I did,' Marshall said. 'It's been liberating. I think they've kind of embraced it.'

Pella Christian, which plays primarily 3A and 4A opponents, came into this game shooting 43.7 percent and averaging 62.6 points. But it had little success against the Cougars' vaunted defense.

The Eagles shot 31.1 percent (14-45). More than half of their shots came from 3-point range, where they connected on just 6 of 24 attempts.

'All 3s are not created equal. If you have time and space and rhythm to shoot your 3s, I bet they're gonna make a lot of them,' Marshall said. They were harassed on the 3s today.

'The theory is you can't play zone against good shooters, but we somehow try anyway.'

Trace Hoffman scored 11 of his 16 points in the first half for the Cougars, including a buzzer-beating trey that gave Cascade a 14-10 advantage after the first quarter. Devin Green added 17 points and 12 rebounds, Kurt Trumm eight points and 10 boards.

It's the third straight season those three seniors have played at Wells Fargo Arena. Last year they bowed out in the quarterfinals, in 2014 it was a semifinal defeat to the school they meet Friday.

'To finally be able to do this and get two wins and be able to play for a state championship, it's really amazing,' Green said.

A 9-0 run to end the half put Cascade up 22-17 at the break. PC didn't score in the final 4 ½ minutes, then never got enough offense going to make a run. Cascade led 34-24 after the third.

PC guard Levi Jungling, a 20 points-per-game scorer, had just five on 2-for-9 shooting, including a 1-for-7 mark from deep.

'We knew that their zone defense was going to be very, very good, and it was,' Eagles Coach Larry Hessing said. 'We knew we had to shoot the ball well, and we did not.'

Simply put, Cascade perfectly executed its game plan. Unsurprising for a team that doesn't require much extra motivation.

'I don't raise my voice very much,' said Marshall. 'I don't think it's because I'm getting old, I think it's because we're doing good things.'

Congrats to Coach Marshall and the Cascade Cougars for advancing to the state final. Good luck tomorrow night!! March 10, 2016

Congrats to Coach Marshall and the Cascade Cougars for advancing to the state final. Good luck tomorrow night!! #proudalum

— Coach McDermott (@cucoachmac)

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