By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
SPRINGFIELD – Elyjah Doty reminds his Effingham County basketball coaches and teammates of NBA superstar Nikola Jokic.
At least a high school version of Jokic, a three-time MVP center who can play on the perimeter or bang with the best of them in the paint.
Doty uses a Joker-like inside-outside game to pace the Rebels in scoring with 12.8 points a game. He has twice as many 3-pointers (28-13) than any teammate while shooting 44 percent from the arc. He also makes smart decisions with the ball and has not committed a turnover in eight of the team’s 17 games.
And at 6-foot-4 and a sturdy 225 pounds, Doty is asked to match up with opposing centers. Last Wednesday, he absorbed elbows from an aggressive 6-9 Greenbrier post.
“Who cares about height? You have to be tough. That’s it. Toughness,” said Doty, after producing his fourth 20-point game of the season while registering a team-high 21 despite the 77-63 loss to the Wolfpack.
ECHS coach Tramaine Aaron says the future is bright for Doty, a junior who is playing his first year on varsity.
“He’s handled everything at a high level,” Aaron said. “He has a high IQ. Every day he’s getting a little better.”
Aaron even likes how Doty handles mistakes. Trailing by three in the final seconds against South Effingham, a play was drawn up for Doty to shoot a 3-pointer in hopes of tying the game.
“I caught the ball and I was a little deep. I know I should have shot but an instinct came to take it to the basket,” Doty said.
He drove in for a layup but time ran out and the Rebels lost 63-62.
“He texted me after the South game saying he knew he made the wrong play. He was going to be better next time,” Aaron said. “That meant something to me. He’s a first-year (varsity) player. He hadn’t been in that position before. The fact that he texted me showed me his maturity.”
Actually, Doty hardly needed to apologize. His 12 points in the fourth quarter almost helped the Rebels pull out a nine-point deficit against the Mustangs.
Four weeks later on the road against Pope, Aaron again put the ball in Doty’s hands with the game on the line. Doty missed his initial shot, but rebounded up the miss for a basket at the buzzer in a 53-52 win.
“Coming into the season, I didn’t have a goal for points per game or anything like that,” Doty said. “Obviously, I’m going to try to score and do my best. I’m just trying to win. I’m glad Coach showed confidence in me (against Pope).”
Doty will have a chance to get even with South Effingham when the Rebels and Mustangs meet on Saturday night in Guyton.
“He’s not a vocal leader, but he’ll get there,” Aaron said. “He asked me, “Why do they call me Joker?” I thought ‘What, you don’t want to be an MVP?’”
