By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
The No. 1 seeded Cair Paravel boys are off to the semifinal round in the Class 2A sub-state bracket, taking down Horton at home Friday night, 68-28.
Chase Hastert paced Cair Paravel with 16 points in Friday's 68-28 win over Horton. [File photo/TSN]
“I love our home crowd, it’s such a cool little atmosphere man,'' Cair Paravel coach Chip Kueffer said. "We have a special community here. Love the student section. We're really grateful that we have another opportunity to pack The Den.”
CPLS got out to a 4-2 lead but the Chargers went on a mini 5-0 run to lead 7-4 before sophomore Chase Hastert rattled off two 3-pointers to put the Lions back in front 10-9 and the hosts would lead 14-11 heading into the second quarter.
“We weren’t particularly strong with the ball against their zone,'' Kueffer said. "They’ve pretty much run it all this season and we knew it was coming. When we did get it to the spots that we wanted to, we caught it and were hesitant and played on our heels, we jumped passes and floated some shots.
“I think we did a much better job of turning defense into offense in the second half than turning them over because in the halfcourt we were not very good at all.''
Cair Paravel opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run as senior Caleb Cleverdon started it with a trey, as the Lions got the lead to 21-11.
The Lions had it going from distance, as Cleverdon and Hastert would hit one three apiece, extending the lead to 13 (27-14).
Horton’s Talon Hooper drilled one from way beyond the arc right before the buzzer as CPLS took a 33-22 lead into the half.
To begin the third quarter, the Lions started out on fire, beginning with a 6-0 run and forcing the Chargers into a timeout just over a minute into the quarter. After that, CPLS had the fullcourt press on and created turnover after turnover, turning into easy buckets and the lead just kept growing.
“We definitely like to be able to get to that fast start in the first two minutes of the game as opposed to the first two minutes of the third quarter, but that’s something we like to do,” Drew Fay said.
“We knew from film that they were a scrappy team and they play really hard and have given teams a lot of trouble and we came out and struggled.''
Kueffer credited Fay, who finished with 13 points, on that hot start to begin the second half.
“He’s so consistent for us. He showed up ready to play today and he always does, but I just think it's misunderstood how much value he brings to our team,'' Kueffer said. "He’s super composed and a high IQ kind of guy and when he’s the guy who puts the ball in the hoop it's great because everyone puts eyes on him.
"I’m excited for him to get those transition finishes because he’s one of those guys who you love to see make plays.''
Hastert got it to 20 (42-22) off a floater and senior Fay converted an and-one, pushing the advantage to 25 (47-22). It eventually got to 34 points at the end of the quarter, 58-24.
The running clock went into effect in the fourth quarter and Kueffer emptied his bench throughout the quarter.
“We got to share the ball, play good team defense and offense,'' Kueffer said. "I think we did OK in the second half of sharing it, but in that first half we did come out flat. We let them bother us.
"That’s a very well-coached team and I tip my cap to them because they were certainly ready to play.''
The Lions will play Doniphan West (13-11) at home on Wednesday, Mar. 4 beginning at 6 p.m.
CAIR PARAVEL 68, HORTON 28
Horton 11 11 2 4 – 28
Cair Paravel 14 19 25 10 – 68
Horton (2-21) – Hooper 4 2-2 12, Strube 2 0-0 4, Strub 2 1-4 5, Chartier 2 0-0 5, Wahole 1 0-0 2.
Cair Paravel (21-2) – Gossard 3 1-2 6, Hastert 4 5-6 16, Marichal 3 5-6 11, Cole Fay 1 0-2 2, Durbin 4 2-2 10, Cleverdon 4 0-0 10, Drew Fay 6 1-2 13.
3-point goals – Horton 3 (Hooper 2 Chartier), Cair Paravel 5 (Hastert 3 Cleverdon 2). Total fouls – Horton 13, Cair Paravel 11. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
