A Basketball Dream Comes True for Sand

Growing up in Fullerton, Jeff Sand could count on one annual outing with his father Brad. The two always attended the Costa Mesa Kiwanis Club Orange County All-Star basketball game.

Sand was 8 the first year his father took him. That was about the time Sand started playing basketball. They have attended nine consecutive years, with Sand watching and vowing that one day he would be good enough to be selected.

On Saturday, Sand, 18 and graduating from Troy High in June, will keep that promise.

Sand, a 6-1 guard, two-time All-Freeway League first-team selection and a member of The Times’ all-county second team this past season, was selected to play on the North squad. The game tips off at 8 p.m. at Orange Coast College.

“I look at this as both a reward for the season and a chance to prove myself to some more people,” Sand said. “As a kid (the game) was something I looked at as, ‘When I’m a senior, will I be able to participate?’ So my goal was to get invited to the game.

“See, basketball is more than just a game to me. I can’t really explain it; I fell in love with basketball at an early age, and I got to the point that I didn’t want to be just an average player--I wanted to make myself good.”

Sand finished his third varsity season at Troy in superb fashion.

As the team’s main offensive threat, he was ninth in the county averaging 20.3 points. He also averaged 35% from three-point range (51 of 145), and was one of six male county players to shoot at least 80% from the free-throw line (132 of 164).

Thanks to his efforts, the Warriors finished 16-12 overall and second in the Freeway League behind Sonora. They reached the second round of the Southern Section Division III-AA playoffs, losing to Bishop Montgomery.

Troy Coach T.J. Hardeman knew firsthand of Sand’s desire to play in the all-star game. Hardeman first met Sand in a gym when Sand was in the seventh grade. Sand was wearing a T-shirt from the All-Star game.

“Are you gonna play in that game someday?” Hardeman asked.

“I sure hope so,” Sand said.

Sand left an impression on Hardeman.

“I thought right then he was going to be a player,” Hardeman said. “Here was this kid making three-pointer after three-pointer while his dad rebounded and threw the ball back. They were set shots then, but it was a pure shot.”

Brad--the girls’ basketball coach at Troy--played basketball at the school, as did his brother, Kirby. Sand’s aunts also played the sport in high school.

But Sand’s father said he made a point not to fill his son’s head with unrealistic dreams. He coached Jeff as a youngster but tried never to get in the way when his son reached high school. “I told him T.J.’s word would be law,” Brad said.

Sand got his varsity break as a sophomore. Another player, who had missed a couple of practices and was benched by Hardeman, quit in a huff. Sand was called up from the JV squad, and never left.

“That first year he’d play a quarter or almost a half a game, and averaged 2.5 points,” Hardeman said. “But it got him seasoned. By his junior year he was ready to go.”

In Hardeman’s six years at Troy, Sand has been his most productive offensive player. In his varsity career, Sand played in 68 games and scored 904 points.

Where Sand will play after Saturday is uncertain. He planned to attend a community college but has received interest from some Division III schools, particularly Chapman and Southern California College.

But everything is on hold until after the all-star game. No matter how many minutes he gets or points he scores, Sand will savor every second he is on the floor Saturday.

After all, he has been planning this for 10 years.