CHHS girls oust CHS 48-32

By KEVIN PEARCEY

Sports Writer

The Charles Henderson Trojan boys’ basketball team got their first win of the season over the visiting Clayton Tigers Tuesday night, 74-70.

Trojan guard Rory Murphy hit two key free throws in the closing seconds of the game to preserve the win for Charles Henderson, who held a 10 point lead at the half. Clayton stormed back in the second half behind the outside shooting of LaKeith Person and Charles Rodgers. Person scored the Tigers’ first 14 points of the second half, including four straight 3-pointers, to pull Clayton dead-even with the Trojans at 44 apiece. Person finished with 29 points on the night, while his fellow guard Rodgers, had 27.

"Those two are tough," Trojan head coach Carl Hollis said. "They (Rodgers and Person) hurt us outside and Person hurt us inside as well. He (Person) was shooting a lot of three’s and he’s a great shooter. But a lot of it I credit to poor defense on our part. If a guy comes down and shoots one three in your eye, you’ve got to start crowding him and we didn’t do it."

Despite the hot shooting of Rodgers and Person, Charles Henderson was able to counter with a pair of outside aces as well; namely Murphy and Jermaine Jackson. Murphy scored 26 points, while Jackson finished with 24.

"I thought Jermaine did a pretty good job," Hollis said. "He done a lot of good things to help us and he done a lot of bad things. Rory played better tonight, he realized that we had to step it up. We played better at times and we showed a lot of ability, but we didn’t do what we should have done to keep our lead. We’ve got to start playing smarter basketball and stop the turnovers; we’re averaging too many turnovers a game."

The Lady Trojans took a win Tuesday night as well, defeating the Clayton Lady Tigers by the score of 48-32.

Charles Henderson’s Clarissa Parker established herself as a force under the basket early and finished the game with 12 points. Teammate Kelly Miller, finished with 12 points also, all 12 coming on four shots from outside the 3-point arc.

After the Lady Trojans had built a 10-point lead in the third quarter, the Lady Tigers fought back and pulled within six on Shekend Stewert’s layup. But Alexis Shell hit a 3-pointer on Charles Henderson’s next trip down the floor to end the Lady Tigers run.

Clayton’s guards were unable to handle the quickness of Lady Trojan guard Jenean Deveridge as she was able to penetrate the lane several times and make several nice assists. Deveridge and teammate Jessica Youngblood finished with six points apiece, behind Miller and Parker.