Sandies Blast Tigers, 55-18

Grapeland Moves to 2-0 in District 20-AA

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

LATEXO – The Latexo Tigers welcomed the Grapeland Sandies to Latexo on Wednesday evening, Jan. 17 for a District 20-AA clash.

The Tigers gave the Sandies all they wanted early on and only trailed by nine in a low-scoring first half. After the intermission, however, the Sandies turned on the jets and blew by the Tigers to win by a final score of 55-18.

Both teams got off to a sluggish start once the game got underway. The Sandies only managed 12 points against the Tigers on a pair of threes from BJ Howard and twos from Keriaun Davis, Rick Frauenberger and Tyrin Wiley.

Meanwhile, the Tigers didn’t fare much better as they only scored eight points. Jack Woodford drained a pair of shots from behind the three-point line while Tristan Curless added two from the field to make the score 12-8 after the first eight minutes of play.

The second quarter saw the teams continue to struggle from the floor as Grapeland only netted eight points in the second quarter while Latexo had three.

The Sandies’ points came from Frauenberger with six and Javion Joseph with two.

The Tigers’ points came from Jacob Catoe with two and Sonny Townsend with one.

With a halftime score of 20-11, the Sandies changed up their offensive game plan while still playing withering defense. Grapeland couldn’t seem to buy a basket from inside the three-point line in the first half, so Coach Cannon Earp appeared to tell his players to back up a few steps and shoot from behind the arc.

The strategy seemed to work as the Sandies connected on five of seven shots from downtown. Howard and Deco Bryant both knocked down a pair of shots from three-point land while Frauenberger also wandered out from the paint to drain a three of his own.

Bryant and Howard both had six in the quarter. Frauenberger had five, Keizion Ashford had three and Josh “Bear” Ackley had two as the Sandies opened up a 42-15 lead with eight minutes left in the contest.

The Tigers’ points came on twos from Curless and Townsend.

Grapeland went to a slow down offense as the final quarter got underway. Joseph paced the Sandies with five, while a quintet of Sandies – Case Boyd, Brayden Cheatham, Davis and Wiley – all had two.

Curless and Woodford both scored two for the Tigers to make the final score 55-19.

The Tigers were led in scoring by Jack Woodford with eight, Tristan Curless with six, Sonny Townsend with three and Jacob Catoe with two.

The Sandies were led by Rick Frauenberger who scored a game high 13 points. BJ Howard netted 12, Javion Joseph added seven and Deco Bryant went for six. Both Keriaun Davis and Tyrin Wiley had four, Keizion Ashford added three while Josh “Bear” Ackley, Case Boyd and Brayden Cheatham all dropped in two.

Will Johnson may be reached via email at [email protected].