Dougherty knocks off Westover, again

State champion Thomasville couldn’t do it. Region leader Carver couldn’t do it. So Dougherty did. The Dougherty Trojans slowed down the Westover Patriots Saturday night and beat their crosstown rival 70-68. The Patriots had won 12 of their previous 14 games since the two teams met in December. The Trojans won that game 82-75 and put Westover’s record at 0-6.

Since that night the Patriots had been pretty dominating. The return of Antonio Jackson has strengthened the Patriots, but Saturday night the rivalry momentum knocked all of that out of the way.

The Patriots opened strong with a slight lead, 21-19 after the first period. But Dougherty took over in the second quarter and built a 38-29 half time lead. The Patriots came out on fire in the third quarter and poured in 30 points to take a 59-54 lead heading into the final period. The Trojans found their defense again in the fourth quarter and held the high flying Patriots to only nine fourth-quarter points to win the game.

Will Riggins put in 15 points to lead the Trojans. 13 of which were in the second half. Eric Gulley scored 13 points and Justin Jenkins added 11.

Cameron Byrd poured in 21 points to lead the Patriots when the Trojans slowed down the others. Jackson scored 15 points and Michael Isler added 10 for Westover.

The win puts Dougherty’s record at 14-8 overall and 9-4 in Region 1-AAAA. The loss drops Westover to 12-9 overall and 8-5 in the region.

The Trojans will host Northside Tuesday in another region battle. The Patriots will host Cairo Tuesdau night.