Westover wins second boys basketball clash with Dougherty

ALBANY — Westover wins again.

Just a little more than two weeks ago, the No. 4 ranked Westover Patriots (17-2) edged crosstown rival Dougherty 44-43 at Dougherty. On Tuesday night, the Patriots topped Dougherty 68-62 at Westover’s Boston Garden in front of a small crowd of family because of COVID restrictions.

The game had it all — intense and physical defense, a rapid pace up and down the floor with sharp passes, nifty ball-handling, 3-point shots at just the right time, and of course some calls made by officials that made some folks upset.

Both teams played with all they had and left everything on the court.

The Patriots edged out to an 8-3 lead early with a 3-pointer from Cameron Ball and baskets from Effrin Smith. But Elijah West and Kaleke Jinks pulled Dougherty back and the Patriots only led 16-15 at the end of the first quarter.

The Trojans got their only lead of the night late in the second quarter on a basket underneath by Octavius Griffin. At that point, the Trojans were ahead 24-23, but Westover scored the final six points of the quarter, including a 3-pointer from Anthony Milton, to hold a 29-24 halftime lead. The Trojans had the ball last and had three opportunities to score as Westover’s defense battled to stop them. The time ran out with Dougherty coach Bakari Bryant on the court loudly saying “Call the foul!” The officials didn’t like that and assessed a technical. In the second quarter, the Trojans were called for six fouls, compared to only one against the Patriots.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Ball went to the free-throw line for those technical foul shots and drained them both, and Westover also got possession of the ball to start the second half. With that start and then a turnover by Dougherty, the Patriots quickly pulled out to an 11-point advantage 35-24. And that is when Jinks went to work.

The freshman shooting guard swished a long 3-pointer after the Trojans had scored a couple of free throws, then drove to the basket for another two points to close the gap to 47-41. Jinks then hit another 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter with a 48-45 score.

The teams went back and forth in the fourth, trading baskets until Kennard Norris hit back-to-back shots that left Westover with just a 59-58 lead and Jinks later tied the game at 60-60 with free throws and 2:41 on the clock.

Moments later a foul was called against Westover that brought Westover coach Dallis Smith onto the floor and the official whistled and acted like he was about to call a technical. But after a discussion with the other official, no technical was assessed. After Westover’s next possession, the ball went out of bounds and the official decisively whistled and indicated the ball belonged to Dougherty, but then changed his mind and awarded possession to Westover. With that new possession, Keshay Walton scored and the Kavon Johnson followed with two free throws and that sealed the game for the Patriots.

Effrin Smith led the Patriots with 14 points, Milton put in 12, and Walton added 10.

Jinks led the Trojans with 21 points, West scored 11 and Norris added nine.

With just three games remaining on the regular-season schedule, Westover will host Bainbridge Friday, then play across town at second-ranked Monroe, and then travel to Thomasville to face Thomas County Central to end the regular season.

Dougherty will travel to Cairo Friday night, host Cairo Saturday in a rescheduled game, host Bainbridge Tuesday and then close the regular season with a home game against second-ranked Monroe next Friday.

Joe Whitfield