Sandies Plunder Pirates, 96-63
Grapeland Advances to Regional Quarterfinals
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
JEWETT – The Grapeland Sandies took the next step in their journey to San Antonio on Thursday night as they traveled to Jewett to take on the Chilton Pirates for the Area Championship.
The Sandies came into the game ranked #2 in Class 2A with a record of 33-1. Chilton, on the other hand, was unranked with a record of 20-7.
The Sandies were coming off of an impressive win over Kerens in the first round of the playoffs while the Pirates had dispatched the Mart Panthers by 30 points.
The game started out with both teams racing up and down the court and for a moment, it looked as if Chilton might provide a tough test for Grapeland. A turnover at the 3:55 mark of the first quarter, however, signaled the beginning of the end for the Pirates as the Sandies used that as a springboard to race past them for the 96-63 win.
Grapeland Sandies Area Champs
The first quarter saw Cadarian Wiley dominate the paint as he poured in 11 points. Austin Driskell connected on seven while BJ Lamb had five. Keizion Ashford and Riley Murchison both had two as the Sandies took a 27-9 lead after the first eight minutes of play.
The Pirates’ first period points came from Dontrell Bailey with four, De’Auntre Davis with three and Kevin Gaines with two.
The second quarter saw the Sandies push their lead out to 21 as the defense took center stage. The Sandies scored 10 points in the span of 54 seconds to take a 50-27 lead with 2:02 left in the half before taking a 56-35 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Wiley continued to work inside for eight second quarter points while Ashford and Murchison both had six. Lamb netted five as both Jonathan Luce and Dameion Smith had two apiece to close out Grapeland’s first half scoring.
The Chilton offense got untracked in the second period and almost stayed up with the Sandies. Davis paced the Pirates with nine points in the quarter while Bailey added seven. Daylon Cromer dropped in four as Gaines, Daylon Ford and McKellar Cook all had two apiece to round out the Chilton first-half point production.
Following the break, Murchison began to assert himself for the Sandies. The freshman dropped in nine points in the third quarter but what was most impressive won’t be seen in the stat line.
On one play, Murchison went the length of the court to chase down a Chilton player and prevent an easy lay-up. A few minutes later, Murchison took a rebound and went coast-to-coast – weaving in and around Pirate defenders, for two.
Driskell joined Murchison in the scoring column with five while Ashford and Wiley had four apiece. In addition, Lekerian Smith scored a basket to draw the third quarter to an end.
Davis tried to keep the Pirates in the game with 14 points in the third. Gaines added four and Cook had two.
By the time the fourth quarter got underway, Chilton was down by 25 and seemed to be flat out gassed. Cook and Cromer both had three while Davis had two but that was all the offense the Pirates could muster.
Cadarian Wiley
Meanwhile, the Sandies continued to run as Chilton had lost its will to fight. Lamb netted six in the fourth quarter while Ashford and Murchison both had three. Driskell and Wiley closed out the Sandies’ scoring in the final period with two apiece as Grapeland rolled to the Area Championship by a final score of 96-63.
On the game, Chilton was led by De’Auntre Davis with a game-high 26 points. Dontrell Bailey added 11 while Kevin Gaines had eight. Both McKellar Cook and Daylon Cromer had seven apiece as Daylon Ford chipped in a basket to close out the Pirates’ scoring.
The Sandies were paced by Cadarian Wiley with 25 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and seven steals. Murchison poured in 20 and Lamb knocked down 16. Keizion Ashford netted 12 for the Sandies and Austin Driskell had 14 as all five starters were in double-figures, once again.
Other scorers for Grapeland were Jonathan Luce, Dameion Smith and Lekerian Smith – all with two.
The win moves the Sandies into the Regional Quarterfinals where they will face the Rosebud-Lott Cougars. The game will be held in Centerville On Tuesday, March 3. Tip-off is scheduled for7 pm.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
