Downtown Dothan Hoops Classic: Dothan beats ice-cold Houston Academy (with video)

Houston Academy’s hot shooting in a quarterfinal win over Rehobeth didn’t carry over into the Downtown Dothan Hoops Classic semifinals.

The Class 2A Raiders shot 21 percent and hit just 1-of-20 3-pointers as Class 6A Dothan came out with a 55-28 victory. The Tigers will play Houston County in the championship at 7 p.m. today at the Dothan Civic Center.

HA hit 55 percent in a win over Class 5A Rehobeth Monday, but went 10-of-46 Tuesday.

“I don’t think their defense was any better than Rehobeth’s, but we couldn’t get shots to fall,” HA coach Ron Watson said. “Part of that was the emotion from last night, which was a big win for us.”

Dothan led 8-6 after one quarter and 19-9 at the half, but came out on fire in the second half, hitting 58 percent of its shots. Forward Khiry Thomas held his own down low, scoring 13 points. Freshman point guard Barnard McGhee scored 11, including a big 3-pointer in the third quarter that extended the lead to 24-9.

The Tigers went to a 2-3 zone in the second quarter, forcing HA to beat them from outside. David Gannon and Jo-El Bennett, the Raiders’ top scorers on the year, combined to go 0-for-14 for the game from downtown. The only three came in the fourth quarter from Hunter Barkley. Bennett was HA’s leading scorer with 12 points.

“They weren’t shooting the ball,” Dothan coach Bill Porter Jr. said. “The nine points in the first half, I think they all came on dribble drives, so we packed it in on them.”

HA was also whistled for 23 fouls to Dothan’s 13, another thing that irked Watson besides his team’s poor shooting.

“We couldn’t get any calls,” Watson said. “At one point it was 23 to about 10 or so on the fouls. We got the last four or five calls. It’s tough and Dothan, I guess they’re known for that. The past two games there’s been about 50 fouls called on their opponents and about 20 on them. It’s tough, but that’s one thing we have to live with. We should have just played harder.

“But we probably shot our way out of the game in the first half.”

Dothan’s road to the finals will consist of playing much smaller schools, as the Tigers notched wins over Florida Class 1A school Malone, Class 1A Georgiana, and will play Class 2A Houston County today, but the Lions will provide a far better test. The two have played twice this year, with Houston County winning earlier and Dothan winning on a last-second shot by McGhee in the Daleville Tournament not long ago.

“I’m well familiar with them and know their style,” Porter said. “It will be a good up and down ball game and they’ll press the whole game. The key for us will be can we handle their pressure.”

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VIDEO - Highlights from the game - a bucket from Dothan’s Greg Marsh, a steal and lay-up from Houston Academy’s Jo-El Bennett and a bucket from Dothan’s Demarius Lewis