Sandies Come up Short in Ho.Co. Holiday Tournament

Grapeland Falls to Palestine, 64-62

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – After a tough game against the China Spring Cougars on Friday night, the Grapeland Sandies were back in action on Saturday afternoon as they took on the Palestine Wildcats in the consolation game of the Gold Bracket during the Houston County Holiday Tournament.

Keriaun Davis

It was a game the Sandies probably should have won but turnovers and missed opportunities at the free throw line cost the Sandies as they fell to the Wildcats by a final score of 64-62.

The Sandies jumped on the Wildcats early and opened up a 17-10 lead after the first eight minutes of play. Javion Joseph powered his way to eight points in the quarter while Tyrin Wiley knocked down five from the outside. They were joined by Keriaun Davis and Rick Frauenberger with two apiece.

The Wildcats were led by Quintin Cook and Israel Fatade with four apiece while Enoch Fatade dropped in two.

Josh Ackley

Palestine came roaring back in the second quarter, however, as they scored 23 to Grapeland’s 16 and tied the score at 33 as the two teams headed into the break. Kameron Hamilton hit five, Cook knocked down four, Eric Carthen, Xavier Wiggins and E. Fatade all had three while both I. Fatade and TJ Dever had two apiece.

The Sandies were paced by Deco Bryant with five and Josh “Bear” Ackley with four. BJ Howard had three. Both Frauenberger and Wiley had two.

After the break, the Wildcats started to pull away from the Sandies as they outscored Grapeland 14-8 in the third quarter. Tyler Gray netted four as both E. Fatade and Wiggins had three. TJ Dever and Hamilton each had two apiece to round out the Wildcats’ third period scoring.

Javion Joseph

The Sandies inaccuracy from the charity stripe came into play after the break. Grapeland went to the line 11 times and only made five. Bryant drained a three while the rest of the Grapeland points came from free throws.  Frauenberger had two, Davis had two and Keizion Ashford made one as the Sandies found themselves trailing 47-41, with eight minutes left to play.

As the fourth quarter got underway, the Sandies made a furious comeback and cut the lead to one on several occasions but it simply wasn’t enough as the Wildcats hung on to win by a final score of 64-62.

Bryant made three, three-pointers to keep the Sandies in the game while Joseph dropped in six points. Ackley, Howard and Davis each scored two in the quarter.

Rick Frauenberger

The Wildcats were led by E. Fatade and Gray with six each. Deckard dropped in a three-ball and Dever added two to help give Palestine the two-point win.

For the game, Grapeland was led by Deco Bryant with 17 and Javion Joseph with 14 points. Tyrin Wiley had seven while a trio of Sandies – Josh Ackley, Keriaun Davis and Rick Frauenberger – all had six apiece. BJ Howard added five and Keizion Ashford had one.

Palestine was led by Enoch Fatade with 14 points and Tyler Gray with eight. Quintin Cook dropped in eight, Kameron Hamilton had seven while both Israel Fatade and Xavier Wiggins had six. Other scorers for the Wildcats included Kevin Deckard with five, TJ Dever with four and Eric Carthen with three.

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

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