Sandies Blow by Elks, 91-47

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

GRAPELND – The Sandies continued on their hot streak to start the 2016-2017 basketball season as they nearly doubled up the Elkhart Elks on Tuesday and won by a final score of 91-47. Every member of the team scored for Grapeland as they dismantled their neighbors to the north in the Sandies’ first home game of the season.

Fresh off their tournament championship in Crossroads, the Sandies raced out to a 24-10 lead after the first eight minutes of play, never looked back and increased their lead to 46-20 by the time the horn sounded for halftime.

With a 26 point lead coming out of the locker room, Coach Cannon Earp began to rest his starters in order to give his bench some playing time.

The reserves came through for Earp as Grapeland scored 22 in the third and 3 in the fourth to make the final score Grapeland 91 and Elkhart 47.

The Sandies were led by four players in double figures. The leading scoring was Tink McQuirter with 22 while Parker Wilson was just behind with 21. Rodney Davis dropped in 12 and Riley Chipman added 10 for Grapeland. Other scorers for Grapeland included Kamari Smith with nine, Tyrin Wiley with eight Rick Frauenberger with six, Josh “Bear” Ackley with two and Case Boyd made one of two free throws from the line to round out the Grapeland scoring.

Grapeland led every statistical category except one. Free throw shooting for the Sandies is still a concern. Grapeland converted seven of 12 from the line for 58 percent. Their shooting from the field and from behind the arc, however, continues to shine.

Grapeland knocked down 37 of 72 attempts from the floor and made 10 of 21 from long range for conversion rates of 51.39 and 47.62 percent, respectively.

The Sandies also continued to pass the ball well as they totaled 19 assists, with Wilson leading the way with 10.

On the rebounding side of things, Grapeland pulled down 38 total boards, with 17 offensive rebounds which led to 15 second chance points.

Defensively, Grapeland had 10 deflections, 17 steals, four blocked shots and scored 26 points off of Elkhart turnovers.

Grapeland was scheduled to host the Chireno Owls on Friday, Dec. 16 but as of press time, the final score was unavailable. This will be the Sandies final game of the year until after Christmas when they ramp up for the Houston County Tournament.

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

Similar Posts

One Comment

Comments are closed.