CPHS Basketball: Sandites upset No. 4 Northwest Classen 83-69, Richardson scores 26

The Class 6A No. 8 ranked Charles Page High School boys’ basketball team (9-1) is headed to the Duncan Holiday Tournament finals for the second time in three years after knocking off 5A No. 4 Northwest Classen (7-3) Friday evening.

Junior standout Davon Richardson scored a season-best 26 points in the 83-69 victory. The game was the Sandites’ biggest offensive output of the season and four players scored in double digits.

The Sandites held a close 19-17 lead after the first quarter but blew the game wide open in the second period for a 42-29 halftime advantage. Richardson scored fourteen points in the first half and Cale Savage got hot with three three-pointers in the second period alone.

The Knights scored nearly as many points in the third period as they did in the entire first half, but could only close the deficit by a single point. Jaeden Hurd led the Sandites with seven points in that stanza and Marlo Fox added six. Richardson had another double-digit quarter with ten points in the fourth.

Savage scored nineteen in the game with five three-pointers and a four-for-four performance at the charity stripe. Fox finished with a career-high fourteen points and Cole Durkee added eleven.

The Sandites were over 80% at the free throw line for the third-straight game and were 17 of 21 on Friday. They also got in foul trouble in the fourth period with both Savage and Hurd fouling out.

Sand Springs has won four-straight games since their only loss of the season, which came at the hands of an internationally-recruited private school with an average height of 6’6”. They were also without Richardson during that game. The team wins by an average margin of sixteen when all five starters are healthy and they are undefeated in the Frontier Valley Conference.

Sandite Basketball will return to action Saturday at 8:30 p.m. against the winner of 4A No. 2 Heritage Hall (6-0) vs. 5A No. 10 Santa Fe South (8-1). No. 5 Heritage Hall beat Sand Springs 54-48 last season in the semifinals. The Sandites made it to the finals in 2016 but fell 62-47 to No. 6 Westmoore.

CPHS 83 NWC 69
1Q: CPHS 19-17
2Q: CPHS 23-12
3Q: NWC 24-23
4Q: CPHS 18-16

Scoring:
(CPHS) Richardson 26, Savage 19, Fox 14, Durkee 11, Hurd 9, Hawkins 2, Minney 2.
(NWC) Warden 20, Wiggins 19, Elliott 12, Moore 9, Patton 7, Cyrus 2.