Sandies Hold off Mustangs for District Title, 69-62

I’ll Take a Dozen, Please

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

GRAPELAND – Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The Grapeland Sandies are District Champions for the 12^th straight time. Let that set in for a moment. An even dozen. The last time the Grapeland Sandies DID NOT bring home the district title, George W. Bush was president and this year’s seniors were in first grade.

The Sandies defeated the Slocum Mustangs on Friday night, 69-62, to clinch the District 20-2A Championship. Grapeland now has a mark of 11-0 in league play while Slocum is 9-2 with only one game remaining in the regular season.

Achieving this year’s title wasn’t easy as the Mustangs pushed the Sandies to the limit and even took the lead – albeit briefly – in the fourth quarter. Grapeland, however, battled back to recapture the lead and then hung on to win by seven.

The game started out with both teams keeping pace with the other. Midway through the quarter, the Sandies found that extra gear they have and opened up an 11 point lead by the end of the first period.

Riley Murchison led the Sandies with eight, first quarter points while Keizion Ashford pumped in seven. Cadarian Wiley dropped in six, BJ Lamb knocked down a three-pointer and Austin Driskell put in two as Grapeland took a 26-15 lead into the second quarter.

Slocum’s points came from Chase Wilson with seven and Colby Thornton with four. Travis Neal connected from behind the arc and Josh Ives converted one of two from the line to round out the Mustangs’ first quarter scoring.

The second quarter saw the Sandies go cold from the field as they only scored six points on twos from Lamb, Wiley and Dameion Smith.

The Mustangs took advantage of the Grapeland shooting woes to cut into the 11-point deficit. Ives poured in eight while Zack Bennett had two and Thornton added one to make the score 32-26 – Grapeland – at the break.

When the two teams emerged from the locker rooms after halftime, Slocum could almost smell an upset. Ives put up 11 points in the third while Thornton had six. Bennett, Neal and Randy Guess all had two apiece to cut the lead to one after three.

Grapeland seemed a little stunned that Slocum hadn’t folded up the tent and went home after halftime. The Sandies haven’t really had to play in the second half during the last several weeks, but the Mustangs put Grapeland to the test.

The Sandies answered the bell in the third as Driskell dropped in seven and Ashford had six. Wiley added three and Murchison chipped in a basket to help the Sandies take a 50-49 lead into the final period of play.

As the fourth quarter began, the Grapeland pace of play began to take its toll on Slocum as the Mustangs lost two players to fouls.

Before the Mustangs lost the two players, however, they managed to tie game and then take a one point lead midway through the quarter. That was when the Sandies seemed to hit a switch and rocket past Slocum.

Lamb put in eight, Driskell added seven and Wiley worked inside for four as Grapeland held off the Mustangs 69-62.

Neal knocked down five before he fouled out while Bennett and Ives both had three. Wilson closed out the fourth quarter scoring for Slocum with two.

On the game, the Mustangs were led in scoring by Josh Ives with 23 points. Colby Thornton knocked down 11 and Travis Neal put in 10. Chase Wilson went for nine, Zack Bennett added seven and Randy Guess chipped in a basket to round out the Slocum point production.

The Sandies had five players in double-figures, once again. Austin Driskell paced the Sandies with 16 points while Cadarian Wiley had 15 points and 13 boards. Wiley also dished out four assists and had five steals.

BJ Lamb also had a monster game with 13 points, eight boards, eight assists and six steals. Keizion Ashford poured in 13, Riley Murchison had 10 and Dameion Smith chipped in a basket to close out the Grapeland scoring.

Despite the district championship being decided, both teams had one game remaining in the regular season. The Mustangs returned home to face the Leon Cougars while the Sandies traveled to Groveton to take on the Indians. As of press time, however, the final scores were unavailable.

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