Sandies Defeat Bobcats in Bi-District, 87-71
Win Moves Grapeland to Area Championship
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
FRANKSTON –The #2 ranked Grapeland Sandies opened their 2020 playoff run on Tuesday night as they traveled to Frankston to take on the Kerens Bobcats.
Grapeland came into the game with a record of 31-1 and were the champions of District 20-2A. Kerens, on the other hand, was 14-17 and had finished fourth in District 19-2A.
While the records indicated this might be a blowout for the Sandies, the Bobcats put up a fight until the final buzzer. In the end, Grapeland’s speed and depth prevailed as the Sandies won by a score of 87-71.
Keizion Ashford
As the game got underway, Grapeland was cold from the field. As a result, Kerens opened up a seven point lead midway through the first quarter. The Sandies came storming back, however, to tie the game at 21 by the end of the period.
The Bobcats’ first quarter points came from Corey Davis with 10 and Ladarian Cumby with eight. Jaylene Cumby converted a pair from the line and Desmond Lindsey added another free throw for Kerens.
Keizion Ashford paced the Sandies with seven first quarter points while BJ Lamb and Austin Driskell both had six. Cadarian Wiley also had two for Grapeland in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Grapeland’s pressure defense took over and held the Bobcats to 14 points. Davis added six to his total while J. Cumby knocked down a three. Ja’Rod Brackens and Treylyn Lindsey added two apiece. In addition, Jason Burleson made one of two from the charity stripe to close out the Bobcats’ first half scoring.
BJ Lamb
Lamb got hot in the second period of play and dropped in 12 points for Grapeland. Driskell and Wiley added six apiece while Riley Murchison found the scoring column with a two-pointer to help the Sandies take a 47-35 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Following the break, Grapeland pushed the lead out to 15 at the three minute mark of the third. Kerens managed to battle back and trimmed the margin to seven with 57 seconds left in the quarter. A three-point play by Wiley, however, gave Grapeland a 59-49 lead heading into the final period of play.
J. Cumby and L. Cumby led the Bobcats with six apiece in the third. In addition, Lindsey and Josh Brown both added a free throw to round out the Kerens’ third quarter scoring.
Ashford and Lamb led Grapeland in the third with four apiece while Wiley had three and Driskell chipped in one.
Grapeland was simply too much for Kerens to handle in the fourth quarter as the Sandies’ offense took control of the game. A pair of blocked shots from Murchison seemed to ignite the Grapeland surge and when Lamb hit a three with 51 seconds remaining, the Sandies pushed the margin to 18, before settling for the 87-71 win.
Davis netted eight for the Bobcats in the fourth quarter while J. Cumby had six. Four other Kerens players had two apiece to account for the Bobcats fourth quarter scoring.
Lamb led the Sandies with nine fourth quarter points while Ashford and Wiley both dropped in six. Driskell added five and Cole Goolsby netted two points to close out the Grapeland point production.
Grapeland Sandies Bi-District Champions
On the game, Kerens was led in scoring by Corey Davis with 24 points. Jaylene Cumby dropped in 17 and Ladarian Cumby had 16. Desmond Lindsey had four and Jason Burleson had three. Ja’Rod Brackens, Benjamin Brooks and Treylyn Lindsey all had two apiece while Josh Brown added one to account for the Bobcats’ scoring.
The Sandies were led by BJ Lamb who had a monster game with 31 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and six steals. Austin Driskell poured in 18 points while Keizion Ashford and Cadarian Wiley both had 17. Ashford also had nine boards while Wiley had six rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Rounding out the Grapeland scoring, Cole Goolsby and Riley Murchison both had two. Murchison also had four blocked shots during the game.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
