U-SAVE-IT CLASSIC: Dougherty moves to 5-1 after demolition of Quitman

Albany — Want to play Dougherty?

Well, you be better be ready.

Nobody comes out of the blocks like the Trojans, the only team in Georgia that believes it can win a game in the first eight minutes.

Don’t laugh. Coach Donald Poole’s run-and-stun team did it again Tuesday morning when the Trojans ripped off an 11-0 run to start their game against Quitman. And that was just the overture of things to come. They started the second quarter with a 7-0 run then ripped off 24 points in a row to start the second half, and by the time it was over, Dougherty (5-1) had won another laugher, 77-29, to sweep its way through the U-Save-It Classic at 3-0.

The Trojans won all three games they played, and won two of them by landslides, beating Southeast Bulloch by 49 points Saturday and coming back with a 48-point win Tuesday.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said the normally all-business Poole, who flashed a rare smile after this one.

A day earlier, he sent a message by benching Herald Super 6er McArthur Gaines for the first half during a 48-45 win against Webster County.

“We played a lot better (Tuesday). I wasn’t pleased at all with the way we played Monday,” said Poole, who felt he needed to make his point in Monday’s game for the sake of his team and the long season ahead. “You have to do that to keep your team humble. And the coach has to stay humble, too. You’ve got to discipline your team. A lot of people don’t know what goes on. You have to believe in your team. (People) say it’s win at all costs, but no, it’s not. You have to discipline them.”

Gaines nodded when asked if he got the message, and then talked about where the Trojans are — and where they need to be.

“We have a long way to go,” he said. “We had a good game (Tuesday), but we are just trying to get ready for the region. We have to play hard every (game).”

It’s difficult to imagine Dougherty playing any harder than the way the Trojans played in their two routs in this Classic.

Here’s the stat of the week: Neither Southeast Bulloch nor Quitman scored a single point in the third quarter against Dougherty, which used backups for most of the period. That’s right. Dougherty shut out Southeast Bulloch in the third Saturday and then shut out Quitman in the third Tuesday.

“We did? Really?” said Gaines who — like all the other Dougherty players — didn’t realize the feat. Poole said he didn’t realize it either.

“We were playing good defense,” said Montavious Heath, who had 20 points against Webster on Monday and had 13 points with five rebounds against Quitman.

Darryl Anthony, who scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds, had a theory.

“Coach told us at halftime that we needed to come out in the second half with more intensity,” Anthony said.

Heath added this: “When you’re playing good defense, it gets the offense going.”

With Gaines and most of the starters on the bench in the third, Dougherty ripped off a 22-0 quarter and took a 66-20 lead into the fourth, scoring 24 points in a row before Quitman’s Tony Cobbs, who led the Hornets with 13 points, hit a shot with 5:12 left in the game.

Gaines was once again in the middle of everything Dougherty did. He made 7-of-11 shots and finished with 15 points, five rebounds, two steals and five assists — all in the first half.

He looked just as good dishing out passes for easy drives to his teammates as he did running the floor, but then again, all of the Trojans were in love with the assist Tuesday as several players handed out passes that led to drives.

It’s hard to believe, but — because of all the fast breaks and interior passing — Dougherty scored 77 points without hitting a 3-point basket.

The Trojans took only four 3-point attempts, and three of those were by backup Josh Lewis, who is a 3-point specialist.

“We always pass the ball,” Gaines said. “Maybe we did pass it a little more (against Quitman). Everybody was spread out and a lot of people were open. It felt (great) to get everybody the ball.”

Anthony Poole, who had a couple of assists from his post position, said that’s just the way Dougherty plays.

“We’ve been playing with each other for three, four years, so we know where everybody is on the court,” he said.

The Trojans, ranked No. 4 in The Herald’s Top 5, have lost just one game — a 67-64 thriller to Westover — but looked unbeatable at times their three games in the U-Save-It Classic.

“It showed us some things we need to work on to get ready for what is ahead,” said the coach, whose team next meets a tough group from Crisp County on Jan. 4 in a big Region 1-AAA game. “We’re trying to get better. We know it’s a long season.”