Monroe Golden Tornadoes get by No. 10 Dougherty, 60-58

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ALBANY – The Monroe Golden Tornadoes overcame a rocky start to their basketball season and a 19-point season-opening loss to the Dougherty Trojans with a gritty 60-58 win over their rival Friday night in a packed gym at Dougherty High School.

“We shot the ball well and played aggressively in the second half,” said Monroe Head Coach Michael Hoffpauir. “Every player stepped up tonight. Braylen Burns, Irvin Ellis, and Lammond Seadrow all had big moments. This was a total team win. We’re undersized, so it’s going to take this kind of effort every night to be successful.”

Monroe (6-6) trailed 32-25 at halftime, and Dougherty extended its lead to 11 early in the third quarter. But the Tornadoes roared back, narrowing the deficit to four by the end of the quarter. Lorenzo Still drilled a long three-pointer at the buzzer to make it 45-41 heading into the final period.

In the fourth, James Adams ignited the Tornadoes with a key steal and a pass to Burns, who slammed home two points to tie the game at 47. Dougherty briefly regained the lead but Still responded with an alley-oop pass to Burns for another dunk. Moments later, Seadrow buried a three-pointer to give Monroe its first lead of the night.

The game’s intensity boiled over with 2:15 left when a loose-ball battle led to pushing and shoving. Dougherty was whistled for a technical foul, and Still calmly sank both free throws to give Monroe a 57-53 advantage.

Dougherty (8-7) refused to back down. Senior Juwuan Jinks converted a three-point play, and Marcus Heath added a layup to cut Monroe’s lead to 59-58. Seadrow hit a free throw to extend the lead to two, but Dougherty had two chances to win with three-point attempts that missed.

With 12 seconds left, Monroe called timeout to set up a final play, but the shot was off the mark. Dougherty then called timeout for their own last-second play, but a miscommunication on the inbound pass sealed Monroe’s victory.

Still led the Golden Tornadoes with 21 points, followed by Adams with 13 and Burns with 12. Dougherty’s Jinks finished with 14 points, Kaleke Singletary-Jinks added 10, and Jaquavus Hallman chipped in eight.