Lucky Number 13

Sandies Clinch District with 66-53 Win

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

CENTERVILLE – Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The Grapeland Sandies are District Champions. Once again. For the 13th consecutive year.

The Sandies put another trophy in the trophy case on Tuesday evening following their 66-53 victory over the Centerville Tigers. With only two games remaining in their District 20-2A schedule, Grapeland’s win over Centerville gives them a two-game cushion over the second place Tigers, who the Sandies have now beaten twice this season.

As the game got underway, the Sandies used the three-ball to take a six-point lead after the first eight minutes of play.

BJ Lamb led the way for Grapeland with a pair of three pointers. Omarian Wiley connected from behind the arc as a part of his five first quarter points. Keizion Ashford dropped in four while Michael Dancer joined in on the three-point action with a shot from downtown. Cadarian Wiley closed out the first quarter scoring with three points of his own.

Despite falling behind by 10 early in the period, the Tigers managed to whittle away at the lead to keep up with the Sandies. A late surge by Centerville cut the Sandies lead to 21-15 by the end of the quarter.

Clayton Bell paced the Tigers with six points in the first while Ethan Flori added four. Brant Roberts drained a three and Dillon Denman chipped in a bucket to bring the quarter to an end.

The second quarter saw the Sandies open up a 15-point advantage before taking a 38-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Lamb stayed hot with another six points. Ashford was right behind with five while Dancer, C. Wiley and Lekerian Smith all had two apiece to close out the Sandies’ first half scoring.

Bell continued to lead the way for the Tigers as he knocked down a pair of threes while Denman scored the other five points for Centerville in the second.

The second half saw the Sandies start to pull away. Lamb dropped in eight points in the third while Ashford nailed a pair of three pointers to help give Grapeland a 52-36 lead after three.

Denman kept the Tigers in the game with eight points while Roberts added a two from the paint to send the game into the fourth quarter.

Once the final eight minutes started, the Sandies slowed down the tempo, however, a Lamb dunk at the seven-minute mark was followed by an Ashford put back with 6:10 left in the game. From there, C. Wiley took over the game with eight points. Peyton Prater added a late two as Grapeland coasted to the 66-53 win and the District 20-2A Championship.    

On the game, the Tigers were led in scoring by Dillon Denman with 16 points. Clayton Bell netted 12 and Brant Roberts dropped in 10. Ethan Flori had eight while BJ Kelly had four and Arnold Gomez added three to round out the Centerville point production.

The Sandies were led by BJ Lamb with a game-high 22 points. Lamb also had three rebounds, four assists and two steals. Keizion Ashford poured in 17 points to go along with two boards, six assists and six steals.

Cadarian Wiley was also in double-figures with 13 points. He also had eight rebounds, three assists and one steal. Michael Dancer and Omarian Wiley both had five while Peyton Prater and Lekerian Smith chipped in two apiece to close out the Grapeland scoring.

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

Similar Posts