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By Nolan Imsande

ALBANY — The Dougherty High School boys basketball team put the rest of the region on notice with a dominant victory in the first round of the Region 1-AAAA tournament.

The eighth-seeded Trojans blew out Cook, the No. 9 seed, 77-40 in the first game of the tournament which was held at Albany High on Monday night.

Dougherty’s interior defense caused problems for Cook in the first quarter, blocking multiple shots and allowing just one basket. The Trojans’ offense took a while to get going before outscoring the Hornets 15-5 in the first quarter.

“The temp, pressure and pace really helped us,” Dougherty coach Ty Randolph said. “As the guys started to get a little loose, they started to pressure and that made the difference in converting for us.”

The game opened up in the second quarter with Dougherty going on an 11-4 run early in the period.

Jerrell Johnson kick-started the Cook offense with eight points in the second.

After a small drought, Dougherty put up 10 points in the final three minutes to build a 36-20 lead at the half. David Quimby had nine second-quarter points for Dougherty. He finished as the game’s leading scorer with 14.

The rest of the game went smoothly for the Trojans.

Michael Sawyer helped the Trojans increase their lead with an eight-point third quarter. He finished with 12 points but came out after rolling his ankle.

Dougherty had eight separate players score at least two points in the fourth quarter.

The Trojans have put together three wins in a row, including their final two regular season games.

“We’ve been playing together a lot better,” Quimby said. “We’ve been taking our time and hitting free throws lately. We’ve been stopping the other teams from scoring and getting so many baskets off of rebounds.”

The win sends Dougherty into the second round of the tournament. They will face top-seeded Monroe tonight at 8:30 p.m. at Monroe. The winner will be one of the top four teams in the region and earn a bid to state.

Crisp County boys 71, Thomas County Central 63

For most of the first half, it looked like Crisp County was going to coast to an easy victory. The Cougars led 41-20 at halftime but let Thomas County get back into it in the second half.

By the start of the fourth quarter, the Yellow Jackets had cut it to 55-44. They continued to peck away, getting the lead down to five before having to foul Crisp to get the ball back. The Cougars did a good job at the free throw line to sneak into the second round, where they will meet second-seeded Bainbridge at 5:30 p.m. today at Monroe.

James Baker and Jaquez Miley both had 12 points for Thomas County Central.

Crisp’s Quentavious Davis led all scorers with 22 points while Ijon Owens added 18.

Albany boys 50, Cairo 36

The Indians used a second half turnaround to avoid an upset and bounce Cairo from the Region 1-AAAA tournament.

After going ahead 10-2 in the first quarter, the sixth-seeded Indians struggled mightily in the second. The Syrupmakers, the No. 11 seed, battled back to take a brief 15-14 lead midway through the second quarter.

Albany led by just two at halftime.

A quick five points by Darrell Bryant to open the third gave the Indians a seven-point lead and forced Cairo to call a timeout.

“It was more or less the energy from the kids,” Albany coach Archie Chatmon said. “We did go a little bit to a half court trap and then our zone gave them a lot of trouble. We don’t normally play that much zone, but they had a lot of problems with it.”

Cairo battled back to make the score 34-29 at the end of the third quarter.

The Syrupmakers went ice cold in the final quarter, scoring just six points. Albany went on a run to build a double-digit lead that resulted in a victory.

The Indians will open Tuesday’s second round games with a 4 p.m. contest against the third-seeded Worth County Rams.

“The key is to keep those monsters (Worth forwards Brandon Moore and Anfernee McLemore) off the glass,” Chatmon said. “They are just awesome and we’ve got to keep those two guys off the glass. That is the key and obviously, we’ve got to take care of the ball.”

Bryant led all scorers with 22 points. De’Andre Hamilton also had 11 for Albany while John Flood scored 10.

Cairo was led by Travis Hunter who had 13.