Winning is just a little bit easier when you make five more threes than your opponent, a fact the Dougherty Trojans proved on Tuesday. They managed a 53-49 victory over Thomasville. Given Dougherty's advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia basketball rankings (they are ranked 47th, while Thomasville is ranked 356th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Kaleke Singletary-Jinks continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, shooting 4-for-7 from beyond the arc and dropping a double-double on 20 points and 11 rebounds. He is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed three or more in the last four games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Traevon Williams, who scored seven points along with 11 rebounds and four steals.
Despite the defeat, Thomasville saw an underclassman step up: Nigel Pittman almost dropped a double-double on 16 points and nine rebounds. Pittman hasn't dropped below two steals for three straight games. Xavier Burkes jr. was another key contributor, scoring 11 points along with seven rebounds.
Even though they lost, Thomasville smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 17 offensive rebounds. This was only their 12th loss (out of 16 games) when they hit their own glass that hard.
Dougherty's victory was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 17-7. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.8 points per game. As for Thomasville, they are on a five-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 5-17.
Dougherty will head out on the road to take on Carver at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Carver focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up seven on Tuesday. As for Thomasville, they will look to defend their home court on Friday against Crisp County at 8:00 p.m. Hopefully Crisp County focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 12 on Tuesday.
