DOCO domination

ALBANY — It’s not every day that you beat a team by 50 points — well, 49.

But that’s what Dougherty’s high-flying Trojans did late Saturday night as they ran by and ran over Southeast Bulloch, 67-18, to cap off a long day at the first day of the U-Save-It Basketball Classic at Albany High, where all four city teams won to start the three-day event that resumes Monday.

“We were just running and gunning and playing great defense,” said Chris Holmes, who scored all 12 of his points and grabbed seven rebounds early before sitting down. “It felt great (to jump out to an 18-0 lead). We played as a team. We have to keep it going.”

Dougherty (3-1), The Herald’s No. 4 ranked team, has lost just once, a tough three-point loss at Westover eight days ago.

But the Trojans bounced back — in a big way.

Southeast Bulloch (1-7) had barely hit the city limits and this one was over as Dougherty scored 18 points in the first 4:30 of the game.

“We just wanted to come out and press them from the start,” Dougherty coach Donald Poole said. “We wanted to get off to a good start.”

They did.

McArthur Gaines, a Herald Super 6er who was coming off back-to-back 28-point games, scored six points during the opening run. Holmes added five points and Joshua Christian hit back to back 3-pointers during the run. It was all Dougherty, which led 26-6 at the quarter and 45-16 at the half.

Gaines finished with 15 points after scoring a basket and making a quick exit at the beginning of the second half, but Dougherty dominated even with reserves on the court.

The Trojans shut out the Yellow Jackets in the third quarter and allowed just one basket during the second half which came midway through the fourth quarter by Blake Lundy.

It was that kind of day for the city schools in Albany as Westover won the best game of the day, beating Lanier, 59-46, while Albany High had an easy time beating Manchester, 65-52, and Monroe, playing mostly reserves, handled Mt. Zion, 48-39, to stay unbeaten at 6-0.

But no one played like Dougherty.

“We were just playing basketball,” Gaines said. “We were playing defense and everyone was hitting their shots. It felt great to get off to that start, but it doesn’t matter if you beat a team by 49 points or not. We still have work to do.”

That was Poole’s sentiments, exactly.

“You look at that game (and we won by a lot) but I’m looking at the things we need to do to get better,” Poole said. “Running our offense and running our defense, and fine tuning things to get ready for our region.”

Dougherty plays Webster County at 5:30 p.m. on Monday as the U-Save-It resumes.