The Frontier Valley showed Tuesday why it’s one of the toughest conferences in 6A when unranked Muskogee (7-8, 3-4) knocked off No. 7 Sand Springs (12-3, 4-3) in a low-scoring 56-54 affair at the Ed Dubie Field House. The upset snapped a four-game Rougher losing streak in the series dating back to 2017.
The conference has been plagued by circular losses this season. Top teams Jenks, Booker T. Washington, Sand Springs, and Broken Arrow all have losses to lesser-ranked teams, showing a lot of parity around the league.
Sand Springs started the season with ten-straight wins, but is 2-3 in their last five games. Meanwhile Muskogee is storming back at 4-1 in their last five after starting the year 3-7.
University of Central Oklahoma-commit Davon Richardson led all scorers with his fourth-straight double-double, scoring 22 points with 16 rebounds. Those added rebounds have come with a cost, however, as 6’6” center Jaeden Hurd injured his knee four games ago.
The Roughers were able to seriously limit another crucial playmaker in Marlo Fox, who scored eight points less than his season average. This marked the first time this season that only one Sandite scored in double digits.
The Sandites played good inside defense, allowing only four offensive rebounds and ten goals from two-point range with a season-best four blocks. But the Roughers were deadly from three-point range with the best percentage of any Sandite foe this season. Muskogee also won the turnover battle and committed only 8 fouls to the Sandites’ 17, resulting in 12 points from the charity stripe.
Jaraun Campbell hit a three to start the game, and the Sandites played from the hole for almost the entire night. Richardson briefly tied it up, but Joseph Campbell, Jaraun Campbell, and James Brown combined for a 10-3 lead and stayed out front despite buckets from Ethan Oakley, Cason Savage, Cale Askew, and Daren Hawkins.
The Sand Springs second string played much of the second quarter, but was unable to find the basket and it was Savage and Richardson combining for a meager seven points and a 27-18 halftime deficit after Muskogee scored eight in a row.
It looked like the home team was finally firing on all cylinders in the third quarter as they stormed back 22-12 to take their first and only lead with 10 seconds left in the period. Richardson scored ten points in the stanza and Josh Minney scored the go-ahead free throw.
The Roughers refused to let their hard work go unrewarded and buckled down in the fourth, scoring eight straight to reclaim the advantage. The Sandites gave up ten free throws in their attempts to slow down the clock and ultimately came up a bucket short, despite finishing strong with seven unanswered points.
The Sandites will return to action Friday at 8:00 p.m. with a conference road game at Bixby (6-8, 2-5). Muskogee will be hoping to ride their momentum into another major upset when they host No. 2 Jenks (14-1) Friday at 8:00 p.m.
