Albany High boys run away from Lee County

ALBANY — The Albany High Indians kept up their hot streak at home Friday night, easily dispatching the Lee County Trojans 59-38 for their fourth straight victory.

“I just told them that was probably our most complete game to date,” Albany coach Archie Chatmon said. “I thought we were more focused to start the game. I was really proud of them for that. For the first time this year, I can say I’m fairly pleased with the way we played.”

The home team came out the gate strong, taking a 28-21 lead into the locker room at halftime despite shooting 8-for-24 from the floor and committing 10 turnovers as opposed to the Trojans’ eight. The Trojans shot 20-for-33 from the charity stripe, while the Indians shot 19-for-27.

“We play a game in which we want to shoot 30-plus free throws per night,” Chatmon said. “That’s a big part of who we are, but we’ve got to knock them down. Tonight, guys did a good job of knocking them down. When you play this kind of game, when you don’t make free throws, it’s a turnover because it’s taking away opportunities to shoot. Tonight, they made them pay.”

It didn’t help that the Trojans lost a senior leader within one minute of tipoff. Zee Johnson was sidelined with an ankle sprain early in the first quarter and did not return. Sophomore guard Jalin Wimberly led the way for the Trojans, tallying 18 points and three rebounds in Johnson’s absence.

“We had to put our freshman up there at the point,” Lee coach Kirven Davis said. “He handled it well, but one thing I’m learning about this bunch is that I don’t allow them to make excuses. We go back and fix it. We’re young … starting a freshman and two sophomores. When you’re young, you’re going to make mistakes. As the year goes on, we’ll see an improvement. But other than that, no excuses. Our effort was there in spots, but we’ve got to get better.”

Davis was reluctant to place too much blame on their loss.

“We missed free throws early,” he said. “And when we got to the line, we didn’t shoot as well as we should have. A lot of that plays on youth, but all of that can be fixed.”

Albany High pulled away in the third quarter, thanks to an eight-point outburst from senior guard Malik Dungee. Dungee hit three-pointers from the same spot on the baseline on back-to-back possessions, then drained a mid-range basket to give the Indians a 42-24 lead with 3:36 left in the third quarter. From that point, the Trojans struggled to trim to the deficit to single deficits.

“That was the gameplan,” Chatmon said of his senior guard’s inspired effort. “We really worked on stuff last night to get him in attack mode, Tyler Cheese as well, but it really worked out for Dungee tonight. He was awesome. We just haven’t had that night where all three of them are really on their game.”

Dungee led the Tornadoes with 18 points, while forward Jordan Young struggled from the field, shooting 6-for-12, yet converting seven of eight shots from the charity stripe. He finished with 14 points, while Tyler Cheese added 10 points of his own, adding seven rebounds and two steals in the process.

The win pushed the Indians to 5-2 on the season, while Lee County fell to 3-5. Albany High plays host to crosstown rival Monroe tonight, while the Trojans travel to Tifton to take on the Blue Devils in their first region contest of the year.

LEE COUNTY GIRLS: 44, ALBANY 31: The Lady Trojans made short work of the Squaws, taking a 32-18 lead into the fourth quarter and coasting to an easy victory on the road. Alexis Hickson led the Lady Trojans with 16 points, while China Marcus led the Squaws with 10. The win pushed Lee County to 3-3-1, while the Squaws fell to 2-6.