AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The Amarillo High Sandies have made an impact on the basketball court this season, maintaining success despite having a completely different look than last year.
The Sandies are 5-0 in district play and have a 17-5 overall record. The most notable storyline is that they have a completely new starting lineup with only one current starter, Jax Richards, having minutes last year.
Amarillo High head boys basketball coach Jason Pillion said his team has been through a gauntlet for the past month, but it has been helpful preparation for playing their best basketball in January and the coming months.
“Each possession has more emphasis on it because you’re not just going to be able to play somebody that you can beat by 30 and waste 10 possessions in the process,” Pillion said. “You have to be locked in every trip, and so we feel like those tournaments that we go play in the Metroplex playing as good teams as we can schedule in regular non district games, sometimes hurts the record and sometimes, you trip up and take a loss that hurts your feelings a little bit. But at the end of the day, we’re not real interested in what our feelings are like in November. We’re just trying to play good basketball in January.”
Upcoming matchup
The Sandies look to continue their unbeaten district streak Friday, traveling to Lubbock to face the Lubbock Cooper Pirates.
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Cooper is 4-1 in district, with their only loss coming from Tascosa last week.
Amarillo swept the Pirates last year, winning the first meeting by 18 points and the second by 19 points.
The teams will face off at 7:30 p.m. Friday night.
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