Monroe, Westover boys basketball teams win at Dougherty Schools Tip-Off Classic

ALBANY — The high school basketball season in Albany began Saturday at the Albany Civic Center with three super tight games and one that saw Monroe’s boys pull away for a 20-point win over the Dougherty Trojans. Monroe’s boys beat Dougherty 67-47, while Westover’s boys edged Lee County 52-46.

The Golden Tornadoes of Monroe held a slight 17-14 lead after their first quarter against Dougherty, but then outscored the Trojans 18-4 in the second quarter to build a 35-18 lead heading into the break.

Monroe head coach Michael Hoffpauir pulled his seniors off the floor in the third quarter as the Tornadoes stretched the lead to 21 early in the third quarter, but soon put Cedric Johnson, Boss Diallo and Dominik Henderson back in as the Trojans rallied and closed the gap to only seven points late in the quarter.

The 3-point shots had not been falling for the Tornadoes, but in the fourth quarter Andrico Jackson drilled two NBA length 3-pointers and also tossed up an alley-oop onto the backboard for Henderson to grab and slam for two points, which got the Monroe faithful to their feet.

Henderson led the Tornadoes with 18, Jackson followed with 13 and Diallo scored 11. Melvin Chambliss added eight.

Kennard Norris led Dougherty with 11 and Markelle Jones followed with 10.

The Lee County-Westover boys went back and forth all night as both teams played full court pressure most of the night. There were big moments throughout the game that brought gasps from the crowd — the first being a perfect alley-oop for a slam by 6-foot-7 sophomore Traveion Wheeler. That gave Westover a 17-16 lead, but that was short-lived because Lee County’s Christian Brown swished a long 3-pointer to put the Trojans ahead and Lee led at the half 21-20.

The game was tied 42-42 late in the fourth quarter before a couple of fouls gave Westover the lead for good. A three-point play Effrin Smith gave the Patriots a 47-42 lead and Westover held on for the win between the two area teams that made Final Four appearances last season.

Effrin Smith and Keshay Walton each scored 11 to lead the Patriots. Anthony Milton added nine points — all on free throws. He sank 9 of 10 attempts.

Christian Smith led Lee County with 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Joe Frazier added 10 for the Trojans.

Joe Whitfield