Crockett Captures Houston County Holiday Tournament

Bulldogs Take Down Sandies, 58-47

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – It was what basketball fans in Houston County wanted – two teams from Houston County in the finals. Following Crockett’s 56-46 win over Baytown Lee and Grapeland’s 66-47 defeat of the Fairfield Eagles, the fans got what they wanted as Crockett and Grapeland squared off in the tournament championship.

The game started out with both teams seeing what the other one had. Even though both teams thrive in a run-and-gun style of play, the pace was somewhat slow in the first eight minutes of play which resulted in 12-12 tie after one.

Crockett was led by AJ Owens with a pair of three-pointers while Jordan Bedford, Ja’Lynne Carruthers and Allen Horace all had two apiece.

The Grapeland points came from BJ Lamb with four points and Rick Frauenberger with a three. Keizion Ashford and Deco Bryant added two apiece while Tyrin Wiley made one of two from the line.

The second quarter saw the pace pick up a little bit but the scoring went down as both teams only netted nine points apiece which made the score 21-21 at the break.

The Bulldog points came from Carruthers with four, Owens with his third three-pointer of the half and Ty White with two.

The Sandies were paced by Lamb with five and Frauenberger with four.

Following the break, the Bulldogs found their rhythm and forged a seven point lead by the end of the quarter. Owens singed the nets with three more shots from behind the arc as well as two from the charity stripe. Bedford added a three-ball of his own while both Horace and White connected for two each.

Meanwhile, the Sandies still struggled from the field. Cadarian Wiley broke into the scoring column with four points. Ashford added three as both Bryant, along with Javion Joseph, dropped in two which made the score 38-32, in favor of Crockett after three periods were in the books.

As the fourth quarter got underway, Crockett opened up a 10 point lead with 6:29 left to play. The Sandies had whittled the lead down to six, but Owens hit his seventh three of the game to put the Bulldogs up by nine.

It was then a strange occurrence happened. Coach Cannon Earp called a timeout to discuss strategy – and with his team surrounding him – a physical altercation between two Grapeland players broke out.

As the fight spilled out into the court and then into the stands, both players had to be restrained and eventually one of the Sandies was removed from the gym.

A technical foul was called which sent Owens to the line for Crockett. He nailed both free throws and when Horace powered in a two, the Bulldogs had opened up a 13-point lead with 3:30 remaining in the contest.

Despite Grapeland’s best efforts, the lead was too much to overcome as the Bulldogs hung on to win by a final of 58-47 and captured the Championship of the Houston County Holiday Tournament.

Owens continued his torrid pace from behind the arc as he dropped in two more threes, along with a pair of free throws. Horace bulled his way to five while White, Teddy Jones and Chris Purvis all had two.

The Sandies were paced in the fourth by C. Wiley with eight and T. Wiley with four. Ashford added 2 and Joseph chipped in one.

On the game, the Bulldogs were led by AJ Owens with 28 points which helped him secure Tournament MVP honors. Allen Horace went for nine while both Ja’Lynne Carruthers and Ty White had six. Jordan Bedford dropped in five as both Chris Purvis and Teddy Jones had two.

The Sandies were paced by Cadarian Wiley with 12 points and BJ Lamb with nine. Both Keizion Ashford and Rick Frauenberger had seven apiece, Tyrin Wiley netted five, Deco Bryant had four and Javion Joseph chipped in three to round out the Grapeland point production.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].

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