Dougherty Trojans knock off Carver, 72-51

ALBANY – The Dougherty Trojans were determined to show why they were the top seed heading into the region tournament after losing their final regular season game to Carver last week. And that they did by beating Carver 72-51 Thursday night at Dougherty High School. Just six days ago Carver defeated the Trojans 71-69 to end the regular season.  The Trojans will now play at Carver Friday night for the region championship but the opponent will be crosstown rival Monroe who also won Thursday in their semi-final game.

The Trojans jumped on the Tigers early with speed and defense. Guards Jai’on Burns and Jacob Stallworth repeatedly knocked the ball away from Carver and raced toward the basket for two points. Quickly the Trojans led 14-4.

By the middle of the second quarter, Dougherty was ahead 28-10 with Makell Jones and Maurice Davis, Jr. dominating inside. Jones blocked 13 shots in the first half to keep the Tigers from ever getting really close, though they did pull within 10 at one point.

Carver opened the second half with full-court pressure themselves and did get some turnovers but it was never enough to overcome the lead the Trojans had built.

Eleven different Trojans got into the scoring column with a very balanced attack. Burns and Juwuan Jinks each scored 14 points to lead, Jones finished with 12 points and 16 blocked shots, Davis put in eight and Stallworth added seven.

Joe WhitfieldJoeWhitfield[email protected]