Sports Writer

Trevon Hemphill scored 27 points as the Charles Henderson High School Trojans defeated the Barbour County High School Jaguars 86-67 to claim the Barbour County High School Basketball Tournament Championship in Clayton Saturday night.

After starting out the regular season 1-5, the Trojans have won five out of their last six games heading into the 2001 portion of the schedule which starts later this week.

The Trojans (6-6) trailed 36-33 at intermission until they went on a blistering scoring streak outscoring the Jaguars 53-31 in the second half before pulling away with the victory at the end. CHHS, however, really took complete control of the game in the fourth quarter by outscoring Barbour County 30-16 by taking the ball inside forcing the Jaguars into serious foul trouble and hitting important foul shots putting the contest on ice.

The Trojans played a complete game as they only turned the ball over seven times, while 19-of-23 free throws for nearly 83 percent.

Defensively, the key to the game was the Trojans’ ability to contain Barbour County senior LaKeith Person from dominating the game with his outstanding perimeter game. Despite giving up 28 points, the Trojans held the Jaguars’ lethal weapon to just six points in the fourth quarter while forcing Person to earn several points at the free throw line.

CHHS head coach Carl Hollis said he’s been pleased with the way the Trojans have come together over the last three weeks.

"We’ve played with more confidence and we’re starting to show some team unity," Hollis said. "Our attitude is getting much better."

Hollis said the ability to take the ball inside against the Jaguars with Person in foul trouble played a huge role in the surprisingly lopsided outcome against the No. 10 ranked 2A member Jaguars (7-3).

"Their leading scorer had four fouls and we tried to take it to the goal trying to get him to foul out," Hollis said. "He (Person) wasn’t as aggressive because he was in foul trouble. We did a really good job of playing him this time around by making him work harder for his shots. We played man-to-man defense all night and made him work really hard. I wanted us to get the job inside and we did a good job of getting the ball into the paint against Barbour County than we did against Pike County."

Other individual leaders for the Trojans included Jermaine Jackson scoring 23 points while dishing out 10 assists without a single turnovers. Terrance Barron contributed 13 points while pulling down nine rebounds and LaKory Daniels had eight points and three assists for the Trojans in the winning effort.

Now posting a .500 record for the first time all season following their slow start, the Trojans hope to continue to carry the momentum forward Friday night when they begin area play on the road at Eufaula. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.

"I don’t know much about Eufaula, but I expect them to be a pretty good team," Hollis said. "I think my kids are ready to play against anybody right now. We’re just going to go out and play by letting the chips fall where they may."

While understanding the importance of getting off to a good start in the three-team area, Hollis said every game is important to the Trojans.

"I don’t put more emphasis on any one game over another even though it is an area game," Hollis said.