Short-Handed Sandies Stumble in Rematch
Frankston 49 Grapeland 43
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
FRANKSTON – The Grapeland Sandies were banged up and playing their sixth game in four days when they hit the court on Saturday afternoon.
Grapeland had lost a tough, hard-fought contest to the Brock Eagles on Wednesday evening by a score of 71-63 then turned around to play in the Tatum Insurance Invitational Basketball Tournament at Frankston High School the next day.
The Sandies took down Ore City 83-56 on Thursday morning and then turned around and beat the tournament host Frankston Indians 55-46, later that same evening. Friday morning saw Grapeland take down the Elkhart Elks 68-42 to win their division in pool play.
The win against the Elks moved the Sandies into the Championship Bracket where they took on the Class 4A Bullard Panthers. Grapeland was short-handed to begin the game and a nagging injury limited the minutes of All-State player Cadarian Wiley as the Sandies fell 69-50.
The loss knocked Grapeland into the third-place game for a rematch with Frankston. The Sandies were still down two players on Saturday – and by the time the game tipped off – the Indians were also down two players.
The absence of four key players was evident as the game progressed, with neither team being able to establish any sort of rhythm. Zan Anderson scored all five of Grapeland’s first quarter points, while Isaiah Allen and Josh Fridinger dropped in a pair of threes for Frankston. Benton Allen added a basket for the Indians to make the score 8-5 after the first eight minutes of play.
At the start of the second quarter, Frankston began to pull away before Grapeland slowly reeled ‘em back in. Frankston opened up a 16-7 lead with 5:15 left the period but by the 3:20 mark, the Sandies had battled back to slice the lead to three. Despite Grapeland’s best efforts, a pair of late, Caleb Ramsey free throws helped give the Indians a 24-19 lead at the break.
Ramsey poured in nine points during the second quarter for Frankston while I. Allen had five and B. Allen added two.
Johnny Lamb found the scoring column for the Sandies with six while Omarian Wiley dropped in four. Anderson added two as Murchison also chipped in a basket to round out the Grapeland first-half scoring.
Following the break, both teams came out of the locker room ice-cold from the field. It wasn’t until over two minutes had run off the game clock before Frankston’s Kason Newport drained a three-pointer for the first points of the third quarter.
The Indians pushed the lead to 10 with just over five minutes left in the quarter. The Sandies, however, battled back and when Murchison converted a three-point play at the 1:15 mark, Grapeland was within five.
Just when the Sandies started to make a run, Newport nailed another three to bring the third quarter to an end with the Indians up by a score of 37-26. Newport had eight in the period while B. Allen had three and Ramsey had two.
Wiley had four points for Grapeland while Murchison had the other three in the third quarter.
Down by 11, the Sandies started to chip away at the lead. Wiley began to get loose in the paint and when Anderson hit a pair from the charity stripe, the Frankston lead was down to six. A lay-up and a pair of free throws by Murchison trimmed the margin to only two with just under four minutes remaining in the game.
With the score now 41-39, Grapeland seemed poised for the comeback. It was not meant to be, however, as the Sandies simply couldn’t get over the hump which allowed the Indians to hang on for the 49-43 win.
On the game, Frankston was led in scoring by Caleb Ramsey with 15 points and Benton Allen with 11. Both Isaiah Allen and Kason Newport scored eight apiece while Kody Loebig added four and Josh Fridinger had three.
The Sandies were paced by Omarian Wiley with a game-high 19 points, seven rebounds, two assists and three steals. Wiley was also named to the All-Tournament team.
Zan Anderson dropped in nine points, pulled down six boards and had four steals. Riley Murchison also had nine points to go along with seven rebounds, one assist and one steal. Johnny Lamb added six points and had three rebounds to round out the Grapeland stats.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
