Sandite Boys place fourth at Port City Classic, beat Catoosa 47-44

The Sand Springs boys’ basketball team (4-9) snapped a three-game losing skid Thursday, taking down Catoosa 47-44 en route to a fourth place finish at the Port City Classic.

The Sandites fell 54-37 to 4A No. 2 Victory Christian (13-3) in the semifinals, however, and 47-46 to No. 19 Tahlequah (10-5) in the placement round. 

Jason Clark scored 15 and Ethan Oakley had 13 points to guide their team to its first win of 2022. 

Catoosa took a 32-31 lead into the fourth quarter, but freshman Kooper Kelly came alive and scored all seven of his points in that stanza, while Oakley and Clark went a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line in crunch time. 

Clark scored ten more on Friday, but was the only Sandite in double digits against the Conquerors, who went on to win the tournament.

Saturday’s game was a real heartbreaker, as the Sandites had it all but locked away late in the fourth quarter. 

With only 23.3 seconds remaining, Clark laid up on a steal for a 46-41 Sandite lead. 

The Tigers wouldn’t go down without a fight, however, and Braylon McDowell hit a three with nine second remaining, then Shaun Young sent Kelly to the line for a one-and-one.

After the freshman missed his free throw, Hayden Smith snagged the rebound and the Tigers took a timeout to dial up a three-point buzzer beater from Brycen Smith for the win.

Clark once again led the Sandites with 14 points in the loss.

Up next for the Sandites is a return to conference action with a Frontier Valley road game at Bixby (5-9, 0-5) on Tuesday. Both teams are still looking for their first conference win of the season.

1/20/2022 - CPHS 47 Catoosa 44
1Q: CPHS 11-7.
2Q: Catoosa 13-10.
3Q: Catoosa 12-10.
4Q: CPHS 16-12.
Free Throws: CPHS 10-of-17, Catoosa 19-of-26.
Penalties: CPHS 18, Catoosa, 16.

Scoring: (CPHS) Clark 16, Oakley 13, Kelly 7, Dickson 5, Askew 3, Jones 2, Brockman 1, Lair 1. (Catoosa) Brown 12, Miller 10, Lewallen 10, McCawley 6, Oxford 5, Hamilton 1.

1/21/2022 - VCS 54 CPHS 37
1Q: VCS 16-7.
2Q: CPHS 10-6.
3Q: VCS 20-10.
4Q: VCS 10-10.
Free Throws: VCS 14-of-18, CPHS 5-of-13.
Penalties: VCS 15, CPHS 16.

Scoring: (VCS) Udoumoh 15, Patton 11, Doctor 8, Granderson 8, Malhi 6, Banner 2, Convington 2, White 2. (CPHS) Clark 10, Brockman 9, Kelly 8, Askew 3, Foster 2, Dickson 2, Oakley 2, Hayes 1.

1/22/2022 - Tahlequah 47 CPHS 46
1Q: Tahlequah 10-8.
2Q: Tahlequah 11-11.
3Q: CPHS 12-11.
4Q: Tahlequah 15-15.
Free Throws: Tahlequah 3-of-7, CPHS 7-of-12.
Penalties: Tahlequah 12, CPHS 11.

Scoring: (Tahlequah) H. Smith 16, Joice 11, Young 9, Matlock 5, McDowell 3, B. Smith 3. (CPHS) Clark 14, Kelly 9, Askew 8, Oakley 8, Brockman 3, Johnson 3, Dickson 1.