Figures can be deceiving.
Tuesday night in the K-Guard Holiday Classic semifinals, figures were revealing.
Dominating at both ends of the court with their rebounding and run-and-gun style, Cave Spring raced past Southwest County rival Hidden Valley 59-38 to advance to Wednesday night’s K-Guard championship game against William Fleming.
The Knights set the tone early in a first half of basketball that Hidden Valley would just as soon forget.
Cave Spring seniors Cager Hicks and Alex Emery opened the scoring with back-to-back bombs from behind-the-arc for a 6-0 lead and the Knights never trailed the rest of the contest.
For the Titans it quickly became a tough ride.
Hidden Valley trailed 12-7 after the first quarter, with all seven of their points coming at the free throw line. In the second quarter, Camden Sine scored the first Hidden Valley field goal of the game at the 5:01 mark, but the two-pointer would be the only Titan points in the frame.
The teams went to the halftime break with the Knights up 23-9 and Hidden Valley wondering if a Salem Civic Center crew member had put a lid on the basket. The Titans shot a woeful 4% from the field in the opening half, hitting 1-of-25 shots.
Still within a manageable deficit to start the second half, Hidden Valley saw the hole get deeper. A pick-and-roll to Cager Hicks, a Hicks bomb from the left corner and a Noah St. Clair score ignited a 7-2 Knight run in the first minute-and-a-half that pushed the Cave Spring lead to 30-11. The Knights led 39-22 heading to the final 8 minutes.
The Cave Spring running game was in high gear in the fourth quarter. Leading 50-30 midway through the fourth, the Knights used a pair of coast-to-coast slams by Brody Hicks, a Brody Hicks free throw and an old-fashion 3-point score and harm by Ty Albritton to mushroom the Cave Spring advantage to 58-30.
Hidden Valley saw some bright spots from their reserves down the stretch, finishing with a 8-1 Titan run that settled the final margin. Hidden Valley was hampered by playing without injured senior starters Will Harrison and Jaret Butenschoen.
“We lost because of rebounding and our lack of playing as a team,” Hidden Valley head coach Troy Wells said in the somber Titan locker room. “We didn’t share the ball, but again, it’s all about “team”.
As could be expected, there was an upbeat atmosphere in the Knights’ locker room.
“Our defense did a good job of contesting their shots in the first half,” Cave Spring head coach Jacob Gruse noted. “We’re having a good run in the tournament, but we’re not satisfied. Cager is clicking and is playing in attack mode at both ends of the court. When he has the ball in his hands the basket looks like an ocean.”
“With Zac (Foutz) out, we had guys step up with the rebounding,” Gruse added. “We had a lot of second chance opportunities tonight. It’s the way I coach; we’re getting after people.”
Cager Hicks led the Cave Spring scoring with a game-high 14 points. Offering plenty of support for the Knights were Brody Hicks and Zach Shannon (9 points each), along with Alex Emery netting 8 and St. Clair pouring in 7 points. Shannon pulled down 12 rebounds for Cave Spring.
Jaret Lipps and Tyler Hampton paced the Hidden Valley offense with 8 points apiece, with junior Marc Arner coming off the bench to score 7 points for the Titans.
Bill Turner
