Sandies Come Up Short in Regional Quarters

LaPoynor 72 Grapeland 60

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

TYLER – It had to come to an end eventually. For the first time sine the 2014-205 season, the Grapeland Sandies will not be going to the Regional Tournament. The Sandies’ 2021-2022 season came to an end on Tuesday evening in the Regional Quarterfinals as they fell to the LaPoynor Flyers by a final score of 72-60.

Make no mistake, Grapeland had a very good chance to defeat LaPoynor but early foul troubles and some very questionable calls by the officiating crew took the Sandies out of their game early in the contest.

A technical foul in the first two minutes of play on the Flyers’ Kase Johnston perhaps forced the officials to call the game close in an effort to keep it from getting out of hand. Whatever the reason, Grapeland’s Cadarian Wiley and Omarian Wiley both picked up two fouls in the first quarter. In addition, C. Wiley was saddled with his third foul with 1:03 remaining in opening period of play.

The Flyers also fell victim to the touch foul as both Johnston and Dijuan Whitehead were hit with two fouls in the first period. Still, LaPoynor was able to take the lead after one by a score of 22-14.

Riley Murchison, LeLe Smith and O. Wiley all had four points for the Sandies while Johnny Lamb converted a pair of free throws to account for the Grapeland first quarter points.

Johnston drained a pair of threes as part of his seven points in the first quarter for LaPoynor while Whitehead worked his way inside for six. Cooper Gracey knocked down five while Evan Almeida added four to close out the first quarter scoring.

The touch foul calls continued in the second as Johnston and Whitehead were both hit with their third fouls midway through the period. The Flyers, however, didn’t miss a beat as they pushed the lead out to 14 at one point.

Lamb hit a three-pointer for Grapeland to bring the lead under 10 but LaPoynor’s defense continued to hound the Sandies into turnovers as the Flyers extended the lead to 41-28 at the break.

O. Wiley helped keep Grapeland in the game with six, second quarter points while Murchison netted five in the period. Other than Lamb’s three-ball, that was it for the Grapeland first-half scoring.

Mathew Driskell found his shooting touch in the second quarter as he poured in seven for the Flyers. Gracey and Whitehead both had four in the period while Cort Reid and Jackson Young had two apiece to round out the first half scoring for LaPoynor.

As the second half got underway, the cheap fouls continued. The Flyers pushed their lead out to 14 and led 51-37 with 3:35 left in the third quarter. Back-to-back three-pointers from Cole Goolsby, however, cut the lead down to eight by the two-minute mark. The Flyers responded to go up by 13 but a late two from Smith trimmed the lead to 56-45 by the end of the third.

Goolsby led the charge for the Sandies with six while Lamb also knocked down a three-pointer. Murchison, Smith, C. Wiley and O. Wiley all had two apiece to account for the Sandies’ scoring in the third quarter.

Grapeland still had a chance for the comeback when the fourth quarter began. The two teams traded threes to start the period. The game turned into a back-and-forth affair until the 3:46 mark when Goolsby and then Murchison hit from downtown to cut the Flyers’ lead down to seven.

Try as they might, the Sandies were unable to cut into the seven-point margin as the Flyers hung on to win by a final score of 72-60.

The Flyers were led in scoring by Dijuan Whitehead with 16 points. Both Cooper Gracey and Kase Johnston had 15 while Mathew Driskell was also in double-figures with 11. Evan Almeida had seven, Cort Reid netted six and Jackson Young closed out the LaPoynor point production with two.

The Sandies were led in scoring by Riley Murchison with a game-high 20 points. Omarian Wiley had a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Cole Goolsby drained a trio of three-pointers. Johnny Lamb netted eight. LeLe Smith put in six and pulled down seven boards while Cadarian Wiley added four points and had eight rebounds.

The Sandies finished their season with a record of 28-11 and while it didn’t end the way Grapeland fans had hoped, the Sandies had a spectacular season and should be applauded for the way they never gave up and fought until the bitter end.

From all of us at The Messenger, congratulations on making it to the Regional Quarterfinals and thank you for a very enjoyable basketball season!

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