History will have to wait

CASCADE - If you're not doing anything January 2, and feel up for a bit of a road trip, make the drive here.

Cascade High School has a beautiful brand new gymnasium, one that's got to be the envy of nearly every other school in this area. And it'll be Al Marshall's next attempt at history.

Anamosa ruined what would have been the pefect Christmas gift for the longtime boys' basketball coach, upsetting his Class 2A second-ranked Cougars in overtime, 56-49, Tuesday night. Marshall will have to wait until the new year for his 700th career win.

Here's hoping he's a patient man.

'I always say (the milestone) just means three things,” Marshall said. 'I'm old, I've coached a long time, and I'm fortunate to have had a lot of very good players over the years. That's what it means.”

One of those players was Creighton Coach Greg McDermott. This is the 46th year on the bench for Marshall, who has a 699-322 record at Cascade and the old Cascade Aquin High School.

He'll quickly tell you about the very first game he coached, a 64-44 win over Independence St. John. Only Bob Hilmer and Fred Parsons, still coaching at WACO and Van Buren, respectively, are in the 700-win club.

'It's enjoyable, or else I still wouldn't be doing it,” Marshall said. 'I enjoy working with young people. I enjoy working with their basketball fundamentals, enjoy trying to get them better individually and collectively, that our team functions the way it should. I enjoy trying to help them become better people. Some of them have maybe helped me with that. I think one of the goals we have in athletics and education is to help produce better people.”

Known for teaching a sometimes inpenetrable, aggressive 2-3 zone defense, Marshall still has a lot of fire.

He was called for a technical foul early in the fourth quarter for arguing what he thought should have been a foul call on Anamosa.

This was the first close game of the season for Cascade (5-1), and Marshall expects it to be beneficial. Anamosa (5-3) has played a meat grinder of a schedule thus far, with close losses to Class 4A Western Dubuque, Class 3A Mount Vernon and unbeaten 2A Monticello.

Perhaps that's why the Blue Raiders were able to handle the environment, a tough opponent and the overtime. A 3-pointer by Kolin Schulte and Gavin Timp layup after a turnover put Anamosa up in the extra sesson, 51-47, and Cascade would get no closer.

Anamosa had a lead most of the game, with Cascade rallying late. Kurt Trumm made one of two free throws with 1.7 seconds left to send it to OT.

'It just goes to show that even with our tough schedule, we're playing good basketball right now,” said Timp, who led his team with 13 points. 'Hopefully that continues on.”

'I told our kids beforehand that 700 is just another number,” said Anamosa Coach Kevin Barnes. 'I'm sure I'm on that list somewhere in the 500s, I'm sure I'm on it in the 600s. What a class act Coach Marshall is. He's the first guy to help you. I know he's going to get it. I'm not disappointed it wasn't tonight. He's a great coach.”

Reis Rausch led Cascade with a game-high 15 points. Six-foot-7 center Devin Green was held to 10, less than half his early season average.

By the way, Northeast Goose Lake (5-2) is Cascade's next opponent. That will be no gimme, either.

'This was our first real possession-by-possession game in the fourth quarter, and that showed a little bit,” Marshall said. 'I think this will be a great learning experience going forward.”

He was asked if he thought his players played tight at all because of his impending milestone.

'I think it did affect us some,” he said. 'I think there was a little bit of anxiety, a little bit of an edge, that sort of thing. It just wasn't your normal routine. Maybe that will be good for us down the road, too.”

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AT CASCADE

ANAMOSA (56): Tyler Zumbach 4-10 0-0 9, Drew Beall 1-3 1-4 3, Kyle Schepanski 3-9 0-0 6, Gavin Timp 4-11 4-7 13, Kolin Schulte 2-7 3-4 9, Austin Hunt 1-3 0-0 3, Chandler Ruley 0-0 1-2 1, Andy Russ 1-2 0-0 3, Kyle Sayre 3-3 0-1 7, Ty Marek 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 19-48 12-20 56.

CASCADE (49): Nolan Weber 0-3 0-0 0, Devin Green 4-10 2-5 10, Mitchell Recker 3-8 0-0 6, Reis Rausch 5-12 4-4 15, Trace Hoffman 4-9 0-0 10, Kurt Trumm 1-5 6-8 8. Totals 17-47 12-17 49.

Halftime - Anamosa 22, Cascade 17. End of Regulation - 44-44. 3-point goals - Anamosa 7-21 (Zumbach 1-3, Schepanski 0-5, Timp 1-3, Schulte 2-6, Hunt 1-1, Russ 1-2, Sayre 1-2), Cascade 3-14 (Recker 0-5, Rausch 1-4, Hoffman 2-5). Rebounds - Anamosa 33 (Zumbach, Beall 8), Cascade 30 (Trumm 9). Total fouls - Anamosa 16, Cascade 15. Fouled out - None. Technical foul - Cascade bench. Turnovers - Anamosa 15, Cascade 15.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com