#11 Sandites suffer first loss to #2 Carl Albert; Savage scores 21
/By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief
Photo: Morgan Miller, Staff
The Sand Springs Sandites (7-1) boys' basketball team suffered its first loss of the season at the Ardmore Invitational, bringing an end to one of the best starts in school history. After ravaging Greenhill Prep 73-54 and pulling away from 5A #5 Ardmore (6-4) for a 74-60 win, the Charles Page team found themselves in the finals against the #2 team in 5A. Carl Albert High School (7-0), from Midwest City, is one of only two undefeated teams remaining in 5A and proved their skill on New Year's Eve with a 60-47 win over Sand Springs.
With the toppling of Sand Springs, only #2 Edmond North (6-0) and #3 Midwest City (9-0) remain undefeated in 6A. Twenty teams remain undefeated state-wide.
The Sandites went into the tournament ranked 14th in the class, and despite the loss, have been promoted to 11th as of Monday.
Sophomore Colt Savage scored a career-high 21 points, but the game-high went to Carl Albert's Trey Hopkins who ran up 25. The biggest problem in the game was Brooks Haddock being held to his lowest output since last season. The sophomore had averaged nearly 17 points-per-game up till then, but was held to his first single-digit game this season--in part due to a badly jammed thumb on his shooting hand.
To add to the one-sided scoring, Mason Harrell contributed another 16 for Carl Albert, while Savage was the only Sandite to double. The Midwest City team's top-two outscored Sand Springs's top-four.
The Sandites didn't go down without a fight, tying the game midway through the final period, but ultimately they were outdone by the Titans.
Savage and Haddock were named to the all-tournament team, and rightfully so. The two lead the Sandites in scoring by a landslide. Haddock sits at 123 points this season, Savage has 121, and the two's closest competitor is Kyle Keener with 93.
Both the boys and the #14 Lady Sandites will return to action Tuesday night at Ed Dubie Fieldhouse as they take on the Union Redskins in a Frontier Valley Conference match-up. The Union girls are unranked with a 1-5 record, but the boys are #7 in 6A with a 4-2 record.
