Sandites Go Undefeated at Memorial Invitational

For the fifth time in the seven year history of the festival, the Sand Springs boys basketball team (4-2) went undefeated at the Tulsa Memorial Veterans Arena Invitational over the weekend.

Following a 77-72 loss to No. 10 Bixby on Tuesday, the Sandites rolled to wins of 72-29 against the Oklahoma City Knights (3-11) Thursday, 55-42 against Tulsa NOAH (5-5) Friday, and 48-35 against Greenwood, Arkansas (2-7) Saturday.

“It feels good man. We needed those wins after a tough loss to Bixby,” said sophomore forward Blake Johnson.

Johnson scored 40 points on the week, with a career-best 15 against OKC and 12 against Greenwood.

“We’re trying to put weight on him but he’s really got a good basketball IQ,” said head coach Eric Savage.

“He sees the floor well, he moves without the ball. He’s a pretty versatile player because we can use him as a passer or an extra dribbler. He’s got some size and length to him inside where he can score inside, so I think his future is really bright.”

Johnson was particularly effective in the paint on Saturday, playing aggressively in key moments to shift momentum in the Sandites’ favor.

After trailing for the most of the second quarter, the Bulldogs rode a five-point swing to take the lead in the final minutes of the half, but Johnson ensured his team would come out on top.

The sophomore muscled his way through double coverage to go up 21-20, traded buckets with Brady Mackey, then capped off the half with his third consecutive score to make it 25-22.

Sand Springs wouldn’t trail again, opening the third quarter on a 14-point run.

“I’m trying to get them to play a tougher mentality,” said Savage. “I think the only way you get that is to play aggressive basketball and I think we’ve done that this week.”

“Even the Bixby game, we didn’t shy away from them.”

The Sandites had Bixby on upset alert for most of the night, but Notre Dame signee Parker Freidrichsen’s 40 points helped the Spartans secure the conference win.

Another big player for the Sandites was senior guard Michael Foster.

“Foster bounced back after not shooting the ball well the first two days,” said Savage.

Foster shot a career-high 18 points on Tuesday against the Spartans, then bookended the week with a game-best 16 points against Greenwood.

Sophomore Kooper Kelly scored a career-best 13 to lead the Sandites against NOAH, followed by Alijah Roper with 12. Roper also had a career-best 19 against Bixby.

The girls team (7-2) hung with No. 2 Bixby through a halftime tie before ultimately falling 84-50. Hailey Jackson scored 16 points with 9 rebounds in the loss, and Sakauri Wilson and Calla Fuseshko both scored 10.

Both teams will return to action January 5th. The girls will compete at the Putnam City Invitational while the boys will play at the East Central Classic in Ada.

Scoring Summaries

12/17/2022 - CPHS 48, Greenwood 35
CPHS;12;13;14;9;--;48
Greenwood;10;12;5;8;--;35

CPHS: Foster 16, Johnson 12, Allen 7, Kelly 6, Roper 3, Michell 2, Hooper 2.
Greenwood: Holt 9, Karnes 6, Chick 6, Kennon 5, Robins 5, Mackey 2, Bollman 2.

12/16/2022 - CPHS 55, NOAH 42
CPHS;12;12;14;17;--;55
NOAH;11;10;9;12;--42

CPHS: Kelly 13, Roper 12, Johnson 9, Holland 7, Allen 4, Hayes 4, Hooper 2, Shope 2, Foster 2.
NOAH: Wagner 10, Hislop 10, B. Bell 8, D. Bell 6, Garner 3, Brockett 3, Ross 2.

12/15/2022 - CPHS 72, OKC 29
CPHS;15;25;13;19;--;72
OKC;12;9;2;4;--;29

CPHS: Johnson 15, Kelly 10, Holland 9, Fueshko 9, Hayes 9, Hooper 4, Allen 4, Roper 3, Shope 3, Michell 2, Foster 2, Marshall 2.
OKC: Coombs 17, Ledet 6, Skelly 4, Chiarello 2.

12/13/2022 - Bixby 84, CPHS 50 (Girls)
Bixby;17;16;23;28;--84
CPHS;14;19;9;8;--50

Bixby: G. Wernli 24, Nielsen 17, Baldwin 16, K. Wernli 12, Musick 7, Wilson 4, Daniel 2, Beltran 2.
CPHS: Jackson 16, Wilson 10, Fueshko 10, Martin 7, Morris 5, Taylor 2.

12/3/2022 - Bixby 77, CPHS 72 (Boys)
Bixby;17;27;13;20;--77
CPHS;19;15;21;17;--72

Bixby: P. Friedrichsen 40, Driver 15, L. Friedrichsen 10, McCormick 6, Holley 4.
CPHS: Roper 19, Foster 18, Michell 9, Allen 8, Kelly 7, Holland 7, Johnson 4.

Sandites Throttle OKC Knights 72-29 at Memorial Invitational

Happy Birthday Kade Holland. The senior starter scored 9 points with 4 rebounds in a 72-29 win against the Oklahoma City Knights (3-9) Thursday night.

The last time Sand Springs played an Oklahoma City homeschool team, they suffered a 68-48 upset, but this year’s Sandites wouldn’t be caught sleeping,

After giving No. 10 Bixby a scare on Tuesday, the Sandites (2-2) showed up at Memorial High School with extra motivation Thursday night in the first round of the Veterans Arena Invitational.

“I thought we had big strides against Bixby at home on Tuesday night,” said head coach Eric Savage.

“Hopefully, I thought coming into here, is we carry some of that momentum and try to keep gaining experience and develop a little more depth.”

“Obviously we’d like to have a couple of more wins in there, but we’re getting better,” said Savage.

Thirteen Sandites saw game time and all but one made their way into the scorebook.

Sophomore Blake Johnson had a career night with 15 points and 9 boards before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.

“Blake has had a good week,” said Savage. “He had a good JV game Tuesday night too (scoring 19 points).”

“We thought playing JV would help some of these younger guys get some confidence and he’s turned it up another level this week so that’s good to see.”

Caden Coombs gave the Knights a brief lead with 2:01 left in the first quarter but the Sandites went on an 8-point run and never trailed again.

Jax Marshall fed an assist inside to Sam Hayes on the next possession to make it 12-11 then stole the ball and scored the go-ahead free throws on a foul from Isaiah Zoschke.

Sand Springs ran away with it in the second quarter, taking a 40-23 lead with 10 players in the scorebook by halftime.

“We’re working hard and we’re showing improvement,” said Savage. “(It’s a) really young team experience wise and age wise.”

The Sandites only returned one starter from last year’s unit and only started two seniors against the Knights.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who it’s their first time seeing significant varsity action and they’re going to go through some growing pains,” said Savage.

The second half was a 32-6 rout with the Knights only scoring on free throws.

Kooper Kelly scored 10 for the Sandites, followed by Zane Fueshko and Holland with 9 apiece. Coombs led all scorers with 17.

Sand Springs will return to action Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Tulsa NOAH (5-4). The Knights will play 5A No. 16 Collinsville (2-3) at 6:00.

Memorial 54, NOAH 31

The NOAH Jaguars made a game of it but ultimately succumbed to 5A No. 2 Memorial (4-1) Thursday night at the Chargers’ home tournament.

After hanging tight for three quarters, the Jaguars were outscored 20-8 in the final stanza of a 54-31 loss.

Jarreth Ingram set the tone early, scoring 7 of his game-best 15 points in the first quarter and the Jaguars never once led.

Montae Collins ended the opening period with a steal and a buzzer-beating floater to go up 16-4 but the Jaguars cut it to 25-15 by halftime.

Ben Radford got hot in the fourth quarter with 7 of his 9 points and the Chargers bullied their way to the win.

Collins ended with 13 for the Chargers and Seth Pratt added 10. Sullivan Wagner scored 14 for NOAH.

Memorial will play Greenwood, Arkansas (1-5) Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Scoring Summaries

CPHS 72, OKC 29
CPHS;15;25;13;19;--;72
OKC;12;9;2;4;--;29

CPHS: Johnson 15, Kelly 10, Holland 9, Fueshko 9, Hayes 9, Hooper 4, Allen 4, Roper 3, Shope 3, Michell 2, Foster 2, Marshall 2.
OKC: Coombs 17, Ledet 6, Skelly 4, Chiarello 2.

Memorial 54 NOAH 31
Memorial;16;9;9;20;--;54
NOAH;4;11;8;8;--;31

Memorial: Ingram 15, Collins 13, Pratt 11, Radford 9, Cotton 6.
NOAH: Wagner 14, Bell 7, Ross 4, Garner 3, Bockett 2, Hislop 1.