Dougherty downs Douglass – Heads to Final Four
By Joe Whitfield
Sports Editor
ALBANY – History did not repeat itself Wednesday night at Dougherty High School. The Dougherty Trojans beat Douglass of Atlanta 71-64 in front of a standing-room-only crowd to advance to the state final four. Last year, Douglass ended Dougherty’s season in Albany, this time Dougherty came out on top.
Now Dougherty will face Johnson of Savannah (19-11) who defeated Hebron Christian 57-50 Wednesday night. The game will be played at Savannah State University in Savannah on Saturday at 7 p.m. Albany’s Monroe lost to top-ranked Sandy Creek Wednesday night in metro Atlanta, 75-44.
Dougherty, who relies heavily on three outstanding play-maker guards – Kaleke Singletary-Jinks, Jawian Jinks, and Jai’on Burns, could not get the shots to fall early during Wednesday’s game – especially from three-point land. In stepped the boys down low to keep the Trojans in front – Markelle Jones and Jaquavus Hallman shined brightly.
Dougherty took a 16-15 lead at the end of the first before Jones scored seven straight points in the second quarter to stretch the Trojan lead to 23-17. At the half, Dougherty was up 33-27 but Douglass scored the first six points of the third quarter to tie the game.
The start of the third quarter did not go well for the Trojans as time after time the offense sputtered with missed shots and turnovers. Fortunately, the Dougherty defense kept Douglass off balance as well and by the end of the third, the Trojans got rolling with six straight points from Jawuan Jinks to give Dougherty a 45-42 lead after three.
Little by little the Trojans inched out front before Markelle Jones drilled a three-pointer from the corner with 5:43 remaining to put Dougherty up 58-47 – the biggest lead of the night. Douglass called time and tried to play catch-up but Dougherty made their free throws to hold on and win.
Jones scored 18 to lead the Trojan offensive attack, Jai’on Burns put in 16 while Hallman and Jinks added 10 each.
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