Eagles Edge Sandies in Athens

Brock 71 Grapeland 63

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

ATHENS – It was a battle of heavyweights on Wednesday night as the Grapeland Sandies traveled to Athens to take on the Brock Eagles. Grapeland came into the game ranked #11 in Class 2A while Brock was ranked #3 in Class 3A. In addition, the Sandies were 2A State Finalists last season while the Eagles lost in the 3A State Semifinals.

Despite graduation taking a toll on both teams from the 2020-2021 season, the two squads still have eyes on a return trip to San Antonio and Wednesday night’s game proved to be a good measuring stick.

A slow start by Grapeland allowed Brock to seize control of the game and open up as much as a 20-point lead. The Sandies, however, would not be deterred and roared back to cut the lead to seven late in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, the deficit was simply too much to overcome as the Eagles held on to win by a final score of 71-63.

Riley Murchison

As the game got underway, Brock opened on a 9-3 run. The Eagles were well-disciplined and passed the ball at least three times before a shot would go up. And when a shot did go up, the accuracy was deadly.

A Johnny Lamb three-pointer with 39 seconds left in the first period kept the lead at six, but a three-pointer at the buzzer from Brock’s Tyce Gentry gave the Eagles a 22-13 lead after the initial eight minutes of play.

The Sandies were led in the period by Lamb, Riley Murchison and Cadarian Wiley who all had three, while Cole Goolsby and Omarian Wiley split the other four points.  

Brock saw Gentry drop a trio of threes on the Sandies in the first quarter while Zach Lewis joined him in the scoring column with six. Sawyer Strosnider added another three-ball for the Eagles while Hayden Moudy and Trey Stuart both had two.

The second quarter saw Brock push their lead out to 31-15 by the 5:23 mark of the second as the Eagles went on another 9-3 run. Brock pushed the lead out to 18 before Murchison connected from behind the arc to keep the Sandies within shouting distance.

Johnny Lamb

Up by 17 – with time running down in the half – the Eagles attempted to play for the last shot. The Grapeland D stepped up, however, and forced a turnover. That gave the Sandies the ball and Lamb delivered with less than two seconds remaining, as he nailed his second three of the game to cut the Brock margin to 43-29 at the half.

Murchison had a pair of threes in the second quarter to pace the Sandies. C. Wiley worked inside for four points, Lamb hit his second three of the game and O. Wiley also had three to close out the Grapeland first-half scoring.

Lewis added five to his total while Gentry and Colton Benton both had four. Four other Eagles had two apiece to account for the Brock point production.

Following the break, the Sandies came out in a pressure defense. A three-pointer from Murchison was followed by an “and-one” from O. Wiley. A second three from Murchison cut the lead to nine and forced Brock to call a timeout.

The TO seemed to help the Eagles as they were able to stem the Grapeland momentum and open up a 17-point lead when Lewis hit a two at the buzzer, giving Brock a 61-44 lead after three.

Murchison led the Sandies in scoring in the third with eight points. C. Wiley had four and O. Wiley added three.

The Eagles were led by Lewis and Strosnider with six each. Gentry added four and Stuart had a basket to close out the third quarter scoring.

Brock pushed its lead to 20 at the beginning of the fourth, but then the Sandies started to play some ball. Lamb connected from downtown, Murchison sliced inside for two and O. Wiley knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to cut the lead to 13 with 4:04 remaining in the game.

A three-pointer from Lakerina Smith cut the margin to 10. C. Wiley made a steal and Murchison had a clean block on what should have been an easy lay up by the Eagles. A second pair of free throws from O. Wiley was followed by a Grapeland put back and with just over two minutes left to play, the Sandies had trimmed the lead to seven.

That was as close as Grapeland would get, however, as Brock was able to hold on to win by a final score of 71-63.

Brock was led in scoring by Zach Lewis with a game-high 22. He was joined in double-figures by Tyce Gentry with 19 and Sawyer Strosnider with 11. Trey Stuart put in six, Hayden Moudy had five and Colton Benton had four. Colton Allen and Kannon Pitchford both scored two points to round out the Brock scoring.

The Sandies were led by Riley Murchison with 21 points, two rebounds, one assist and two steals. Omarian Wiley poured in 17 points, pulled down four rebounds, dished out four assists and had two steals. Cadarian Wiley had 11 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Johnny Lamb canned three, three-pointers on the night, Lakerina Smith nailed a three and Cole Goolsby closed out the Grapeland scoring with a two.

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

Similar Posts