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.

Jason Clark and Ethan Oakley lead Sandites to come-from-behind 68-55 win over NOAH

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Ethan Oakley wasn’t planning on playing basketball his senior year, but two weeks prior to the season tip-off he asked his team if they would take him back. The Sandites welcomed his return, and it paid off in the season opener Thursday night at SpiritLife Church. 

Oakley double-doubled with 11 points and 16 rebounds from the bench, while Jason Clark scored 19 points in Charles Page High School’s 68-55 win over Tulsa NOAH (1-2). 

“I put it up to the senior players whether they wanted to allow him back or not,” said ninth-year head coach Eric Savage. “I think they know what he can mean to this team. He demonstrated some of that tonight, so we’re glad to have him back for sure.”

The Sandites had to survive an early upset bid after falling behind 16 points in the first quarter. Clark took four fouls in the first quarter alone and spent half of the game on the bench, while his team of mostly first-year varsity players had to claw their way back into it.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who have been on varsity, but not a lot who have gotten a lot of minutes,” said Savage. “Jason Clark and Ethan Oakley have logged the most minutes the past few years as underclassmen but the rest of the guys haven’t.”

“They’re going to have to learn those roles a little bit. I think they were a little overhyped in the first half, but settled in in the second half, started rebounding better and executed better on the offensive end. We finally got Jason Clark going a little bit, and each of those seniors kind of stepped up and made plays there in the second half when we needed them to.”

Down 22-6, sophomore Alijah Roper hit a three-pointer to close out the first quarter and spark a Sandite resurgence. 

JD Dickson, a senior move-in from Jenks, tied the game up at 27-27 after scoring through a foul from Will Edwards and sinking the free throw, but the Jaguars found their feet again and rolled to a 39-28 halftime lead.

The second half was all Sandites as the visitors outscored their foes 20-10 in the third quarter and 20-8 in the fourth. Clark gave them their first lead with a layup at 44-43, but the Jags still led 57-52 early in the fourth. 

Then fouls caught up to the home team, which lost Sullivan Wagner, Jack Garner, and Connor Hislop. Dickson scored 16 points in his first game as a Sandite before fouling out, but the Sandites had the deeper bench and closed the game on a 19-point run. 

Cale Askew also had a big night for Sand Springs with 10 points and 8 rebounds.

This year's Sandites will look a bit different than the star-studded teams of the past. After graduating four of last year’s starting five, the team will turn to a much younger bench.

“I think it’s going to be a collective effort (this year),” said Savage. “I think this year’s team is a little bit different. We’re not going to just be able to rely on one guy and hope that he can carry us through, so we’re going to have to definitely play together and rely on each other.”

“I think Kooper Kelley, a freshman, is going to get better and better as the year goes. That was a huge three he hit there late in the fourth quarter after struggling. He’s got the ability, just had first game varsity jitters I think. He’ll grow up as the season goes, but we’re definitely expecting big things from him.”

“We’re going to have to develop a little depth off the bench. Kade Holland, we’re looking for him to be able to come in as well as Blake Johnson to come in and provide some significant minutes for us.”

This season will be a unique one for Coach Savage for another reason, in addition to the lack of star power. It’ll also be the first time since 2014 that he hasn’t had one of his sons on the team.

Colt Savage was a four-year starter from 2015 to 2018 and ranks as the number-two all-time leading scorer at Sand Springs. Cale Savage and Cason Savage were also multi-year starters and leading contributors to the school’s deep playoff success the last eight years.

“It’s a different feel for sure,” said Savage. “I definitely miss having them out there. They were kind of the second coach on the floor when I had one of them in the game. They knew what I wanted and knew what I expected, so somebody else is going to have to take on those roles.”

Sand Springs will need a new star or two to rise up if they want to keep alive one of the longest eras of success in school history. The Sandites have made it to the Area playoffs seven of the last eight years, including two Regional Championships from 2019 to 2020. 

“It’s going to be a tough year,” said Savage. “ We’re going to be hopefully competitive in every game, but the conference is really good. I think every team in the conference has at least one college player, if not more, that’s been offered or already committed. We don’t have that type of player this year, so for us to be able to compete with that, we don’t have much room for error. We’re going to have to be very disciplined and rely on each other.”

Sand Springs basketball will return to action Friday, December 3rd in a home rematch against NOAH.

CPHS 68 NOAH 57
1Q: NOAH 22-9.
2Q: CPHS 19-17.
3Q: CPHS 20-10.
4Q: CPHS 20-8.
Free Throws: CPHS 19-of-31, NOAH 8-of-13.
Field Goals: CPHS 21-of-58, NOAH 21-of-59.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 21, NOAH 8.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 25, NOAH 17.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 46, NOAH 25.
Steals: CPHS 10, NOAH 9.
Blocks: CPHS 2, NOAH 2.
Fouls: CPHS 20, NOAH 25.

Scoring: (CPHS) Clark 19, Dickson 16, Oakley 11, Askew 10, Kelly 5, Brockman 4, Roper 3. (NOAH) Bell 14, Wagner 12, I. Hislop 8, Hill 7, Edwards 6, Garner 5, C. Hislop 5.