Sandites upset No. 18 Bartlesville 52-51 behind Keener's 18 points

(Photo: Morgan Miller)

CPHS 52 BHS 51

1Q Bartlesville 19-12
2Q All 22-22
3Q Sand Springs 7-5
4Q Sand Springs 11-5

Scoring: (CPHS) Keener 18, Colt Savage 16, Cale Savage 8, Taber 5, Garbey 3, Wash 2. (BHS) Tanner 21, Gronigan 19, Dina 9, Bilger 2.

(Sand Springs only) 
Offensive Rebounds: Colt Savage 2, Keener 1.
Defensive Rebounds: Colt Savage 6, Keener 4, Price 2, Wash 2, Cale Savage 1.
Assists: Colt Savage 3, Taber 3, Keener 2, Garbey 2, Durkee 1.
Steals: Taber 5, Cale Savage 2, Keener 1, Colt Savage 1.
Blocks: Keener 3, Cale Savage 1, Garbey 1.
Fouls: Colt Savage 4, Keener 2, Taber 2, Cale Savage 1, Garbey 1.

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School boys basketball team (10-11 overall, 4-8 conference) isn't ranked, but they probably should be. The polls are closed for the season since the playoff pairings were released last week, but since they were last released the Sandites gave No. 8 Broken Arrow (15-6, 9-3) a run for their money, then topped No. 18 Bartlesville (9-11, 4-7) 52-51 to avenge a pair of losses earlier this season. 

Bartlesvile defeated Sand Springs 53-39 in the season opener and 63-53 at the Coffeyville Interstate Classic. However, the Bruins have lost their last four-straight games, while the Sandites have won three of their last four including 5A No. 18 Bishop Kelley (7-13, 3-9), and only lost by three points at No. 15 Owasso (13-8, 6-6). 

Friday night at the Ed Dubie Field House the Sandites came back from a fourteen-point deficit and outscored the Bruins 18-10 in the second half. The Bruins' Barron Tanner led all scorers with 21 points, followed by Andrew Gronigan with 19, but the Sandites were right behind them led by Kyle Keener with 18 and Colt Savage with 16. Six Sandites got on the scoreboard while only four posted points for Bartlesville.

The Sandites hit back-to-back threes from brothers Cale and Colt Savage to start the game, but Bartlesville scored nine-straight before Keener broke things up with a dunk. Keener is a senior signed with the University of Central Oklahoma for next season. The visiting team continued to rack on the points for a 19-12 advantage to end the quarter. 

The second quarter was a shootout with both teams scoring 22 apiece. Keener scored twelve of those points, Colt Savage added four, and Cale and Jacob Garbey hit threes to cut things to 41-34. The worst the Sandites trailed was 38-24, but they made five of the final six baskets.

Tanner came out of halftime fired up for the Bruins and sank two from the charity stripe before hitting a layup. Colt Savage hit two field goals and two free throws for seven-straight points to close the third quarter 46-41. Josh Taber scored five in the fourth quarter, and the Sandites held their visitors to five points for the second-straight period to clinch the win. 

Sand Springs has two games left in the regular season. They will host No. 10 Muskogee (15-5, 8-4) Tuesday for senior night, then will travel to Bixby (9-12, 4-8) on Friday. The Bruins will host Bixby Tuesday, then will play back-to-back games against No. 12 Sapulpa (14-5, 8-3). 

Sand Springs is currently seventh in conference standings, while Bartlesville is sixth. Undefeated No. 1 Union (21-0, 12-0) has the Frontier Valley title on lock with only two games left.