CPHS Basketball: Eric Savage earns 100th win at Sand Springs, surpasses 400 in career

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When Eric Savage was hired as Charles Page High School’s new Head Boys Basketball Coach in 2013, he was arguably the most elite hire in the history of the school, fresh off his third State Championship win at Tulsa Memorial. In his twelve seasons at Memorial he led them to four finals appearances and a 305-93 record.

At Sand Springs he had a tough task ahead, inheriting a program that went 1-21 the prior year and hadn’t had a winning season in over a decade. In his first year he took them to eight wins, which was as many as the previous three seasons combined. By year two they were 12-12 with a winning regular season record, and in year three they were 14-10.

After a slight hiccup in 2016-2017 in which they went 12-14, they bounced back with a 19-8 effort the next year and their first State Tournament appearance in 50 years. Last year they went 17-9 overall and 9-5 in the Frontier Valley Conference for the second straight season.

Savage’s Sandites have won two Regional Championships, an Area Consolation Championship, two regular season tournaments, and they’ve gone undefeated four times at the Memorial Invitational festival.

2019-2020 has been a big year for the Sandites, as Savage led his team to wins over No. 6 Union, No. 3 Jenks and No. 2 Booker T. Washington. The Union and Washington wins were his first against those elite programs since he arrived at CPHS. On January 31st he earned his 400th career victory and 95th at Sand Springs in a 64-49 conference win over Bixby.

Last Friday Savage earned his 100th Sand Springs win and 405th overall against No. 11 Broken Arrow, avenging two regular season losses to earn back-to-back Regional titles for the first time in school history.

The Sandites are on pace for a potentially historic season, and the next stop will be at Catoosa High School on Friday when they get a rematch with No. 1 Booker T. Washington (19-5) at 6:30 p.m. in the Area Championship.

A win will advance them to the State Tournament for the second time in three years, and a loss will send them to the Area Consolation Championship where they will take on either No. 13 Putnam City North (14-9) or No. 18 Owasso (12-13) with a State berth on the line. The Consolation finals will also be played at Catoosa, Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Catoosa High School is located at 2000 South Cherokee Street.