Team Preview: Sand Springs (6A)
The most notable player returning for Sand Springs, coach Eric Savage said, is senior guard Marlo Fox, who led the Sandites in scoring as a junior. “We’ll rely pretty heavy on [Fox] this year,” Savage said. Fox’s right-hand man will…
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Continue ReadingThe most notable player returning for Sand Springs, coach Eric Savage said, is senior guard Marlo Fox, who led the Sandites in scoring as a junior.
“We’ll rely pretty heavy on [Fox] this year,” Savage said.
Fox’s right-hand man will be senior Cason Savage, a shifty and high-energy guard who started his junior season, as well. The Sandites will need increased production from the younger Savage, coach Savage said.
“We’ll ask [Cason] to try to pick up his scoring,” Savage said. “He’s always been more of a distributor, but he’s going to have to score a little more this year.”
Coach Savage also said that Cason may also be Sand Springs’ best defender.
The Sandites will be without the services of senior forward Jaeden Hurd, a 6-foot-7-inch post who injured his knee during a game against Booker T. Washington his junior season. Savage said asking another player to equal Hurd’s production will be a difficult ask.
Junior Ethan Oakley will provide some of that production, Savage said.
“Oakley played a lot in Jaeden’s absence last year,” Savage said. “He’s capable of getting in there, banging-in and rebounding. . . he’s coming along nicely.”
Trevon Corona, a transfer junior forward, will pair with Oakley to alleviate the Sandites’ post-needs.
“[Corona] is kind of a big kid, about 6-4, 250, so we’ll rely on him to pull some rebounds and give us some toughness in the paint.”
Helping Fox and Savage around the perimeter will be a host of returners and newcomers. Seniors Darron Hawkins and Corbin Fisher are two of those players.
“[Hawkins] will help a lot, he just got in from football,” Savage said, “[Fisher] is a pretty good athlete.”
Savage said Hawkins, Fisher, Fox and Savage will need to provide instrumental senior leadership.
“Those four guys will kind of be the backbone of the team,” Savage said.
Junior guard Jason Clark will also be in the mix of rotation players.
“[Clark] will probably be, if not starting, the first guy in,” Savage said. “He brings a lot of energy, came in and played well in the playoffs for us off-the-bench.
“He can run some point to free up Cason and Marlo on the wings to score a little more,” Savage added.
The Sandites will need to continue to make adjustments on-the-go, Savage said.
“Coming into the season, I was really fired up, ’cause this group of seniors has always won a lot of games and have been together a long time,” Savage said, “With Jaeden going down, it changed some things for us so it’s kind of revamping the way we were going to play.
“We’re probably not going to be able to take as many chances without a 6-7 guy in the paint to erase mistakes,” Savage said.
The Sandites will need to spread the floor with Fox and Cason Savage, coach Savage said.
“[We’ll] not play through the post as a first option and utilize some of our guards with good size, so I think you can put them in some inside-out situations,” Savage said. “There may be some five-guard lineups this year.”
Savage said that he hopes to adjust to continually improve in the tough Frontier Conference.
“I think our conference is really tough again,” Savage said, “I’ll look for us to definitely be able to win some games and hopefully be in the mix at the end of the season as we get better.”