Prep Basketball Round-Up: Dougherty sweeps Columbus, Deerfield-Windsor Splits

The Dougherty Trojans and the Monroe Golden Tornadoes meet again Friday night at Monroe to likely determine the region’s top seed in the coming region tournament but head coach Bakari Bryant didn’t want to blame “looking ahead” for the Trojans’ close call Tuesday night against a team they beat earlier this season by 42 points. Tuesday night the Trojans edged Columbus 54-50.

“Columbus came in with a game plan and executed it to a T,” said Bryant. “I don’t want to blame looking ahead to Friday’s game on this game over our lack of effort. Like I told my boys, teams get better this part of the year. If you’re a true hooper, you’ve got to treat each game like a championship game. Prepare for down the road by taking one game at a time. It’s good to learn from losses but I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss anytime.”

Markell Jones led the Trojans Tuesday night with 14 points, Jai’on Burns scored 11 and Maurice Davis added eight.

With the win, the Trojans maintain a first-place lead in Region 1-AAA, one game ahead of Monroe, who beat Crisp County 64-40 Tuesday night. Dougherty defeated Monroe earlier 60-55 and is now 7-0 in the region. Monroe’s only region loss is to the Trojans and the Golden Tornadoes are 17-5 overall and 6-1 in the region. The game between the two Albany schools will likely decide the top seed in the tournament. Monroe must beat Dougherty to claim first place by more than five points.

The Lady Trojans breezed past Columbus by a 57-31 score and remained in second place in Region 1-AAA. Jatiana Chambers poured in 27 points and D’Asia Simmons chipped in 10 for the winners. The Lady Trojans need to beat Monroe and Carver to earn the top seed and host the region tournament.

Deerfield-Windsor splits with BookwoodTwo games remain on the regular season schedule for the Deerfield-Windsor Lady Knights who won their 20th game of the season, their 15th straight Tuesday night in Thomasville, 59-30. Four of the Lady Knights scored in double figures against Brookwood, led by Murphey Ray with 16 points. Joi Hubbard scored 14, Gabrielle Harris added 11 and Margaret Saddler put in 10 for the winners. The Lady Knights are now 20-1 on the season with two games remaining.

Brookwood’s boy’s team won their fifth in a row Tuesday night and pushed the Deerfield-Windsor Knights (13-7) into a tie for first place. The Warriors handed the Knights their first region loss of the year by a 51-46 score. The Knights are now tied with Southland for the top spot in the region. Mason Johnson led the Knights with 16 points, Hayes Revell scored 13 and Jackson Harris added eight in the losing effort. The Knights will host Tiftarea Friday in Albany and then close the regular season Tuesday at home against Southland.