Regional Semis Rematch goes to Sandies, 60-51

Grapeland Takes Down Tenaha

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

GRAPELAND – The Grapeland Sandies basketball team had been rocking along to open the season and had rolled off seven straight wins before Friday night’s contest against the Tenaha Tigers.

The Sandies and Tigers are no strangers to one another when it comes to the hardwood. In 2017, Grapeland and Tenaha faced off in the Regional Finals to see who would advance to the state tournament. The Sandies won that game by a score of 99-83.

The next two years, 2018 and 2019, saw Grapeland take down Tenaha in the Regional Semifinals. Earlier this year, right before the COVID-19 pandemic wrecked the UIL Boys State Basketball Tournament, the Sandies defeated the Tigers in the Regional Semis, 83-67, in a game where tempers came close to boiling over.

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Friday night’s game was much more docile than the last time the two teams met but the result was still the same as Grapeland held off Tenaha by a score of 60-51. Prior to the game Grapeland’s Keizion Ashford was recognized for scoring over 1000 points in his career as a Sandie.

Tenaha had just finished up football and this was their first game of basketball season. Make no mistake, however, it certainly didn’t look like it in the first quarter as the #8 ranked Tigers opened up a 17-6 lead on the #2 ranked Sandies.

Ja’Tryian Moore led Tenaha with eight points in the quarter while Jeremy Patton had four, Trindon Claiborne dropped in a three and Tre Kegler had two.

Michael Dancer kept the Sandies in the game with five, first quarter points and Cadarian Wiley made one of two from the line.

The second quarter saw Grapeland ramp up their intensity on offense which helped the Sandies creep back in to the game from the free throw line. A clean bock by the on the defensive end of the court led to a three from BJ Lamb and forced a Tenaha timeout.

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Following the TO, the Sandies caught the Tigers napping. Lamb hit Keizion Ashford with a floor-length pass and Ashford laid it in to tie the game at 21 with 1:23 left in the first half.

When Tenaha failed to score on their next possession, Lamb converted a two and Grapeland took its first lead of the game before falling back into a 23-23 deadlock at the half.

Claiborne, Kegler and Patton all had two apiece to account for the Tigers’ second quarter output.

Lamb dropped in 10 second quarter points for the Sandies while Ashford had five and Riley Murchison was two-of-two from the line.   

After the break, Grapeland took control of the game. Lamb gave the Sandies a lead they would not relinquish when he hit a twisting, turning lay-up at the 6:18 mark of the third. Dancer drained a shot from behind the arc to put Grapeland up by seven and with eight seconds left in the quarter, Wiley made a put-back to extend the lead to 10 with three periods in the books.

Ashford netted six in the third, Dancer had five and both Lamb, along with Wiley, added four to help the Sandies take a 42-32 lead into the final period of play.

Kegler knocked down a three-pointer while Moore, Patton and Tray Tutt all had two apiece to account for the Tenaha third quarter scoring.

The Tigers, to their credit kept fighting the whole way – but try as they might – the closest they could get was within eight. Claiborne netted eight in the last eight minutes while both Kegler and Moore dropped in five each. Patton was one of two from the line to close out the Tenaha scoring.

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Lamb took over in the fourth quarter for the Sandies as he poured in 13 points to help keep the Tigers at arm’s length. Dancer added three and Omarian Wiley found the scoring column with two as Grapeland held on to win by a final of 60-51.

On the game, the Tigers were led by Ja’Tryian Moore with 15 points. He was joined in double figures by Trindon Claiborne with 13 and Tre Kegler with 12. Jeremy Patton dropped in nine and Tray Tutt chipped in two to account for the Tenaha point production.

BJ Lamb led the Sandies with 27 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals. Michael Dancer came up big in the game with 13 points, five rebounds and one assist. Keizion Ashford netted 11, pulled down three boards, dished out two assists and had two steals. Cadarian Wiley added five points and had five boards. In addition, Riley Murchison and Omarian Wiley had two points apiece.

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