Sports Writer

CLAYTON – Senior guard Jermaine Jackson scored 33 points and collected seven rebounds as

the Charles Henderson High School Trojans rallied from behind to defeat the Pike County High School Bulldogs 71-64 in a mistake filled affair at the play-in game of the Barbour County High School Basketball Tournament Friday night.

With the win, the Trojans faced No. 10 ranked Barbour County (7-2) in the championship game Saturday night while the Bulldogs played Notasulga in the consolation contest. For details of Saturday’s action, see Wednesday’s edition of The Messenger.

After being off from action for a week, both teams showed signs of rustiness as the Trojans and Bulldogs exchanged turnovers throughout the evening. However, the Trojans went on a fourth quarter run to pull away with the win.

Pike County head coach David Buehler said mistakes in the second and fourth quarters proved to be costly in the outcome.

"They hit some baskets and we didn’t in the fourth quarter," Buehler said. "We kind of panicked and you can’t do that. We started making too many games in the second quarter. Like good teams do, they capitalized on them."

In the first quarter, the Bulldogs trailed 3-2 two minutes into the game before going on a 9-0 run to take a 11-3 lead with 2:30 left in the first half. The Trojans, however immediately responded with an 8-0 run over a two minute span thanks to Jackson’s hot shooting from the perimeter tying the game at 11-11. The Bulldogs took advantage of a pair of Trojan turnovers scoring three points in the final 30 seconds to take a 14-11 lead after the opening eight minutes.

In the second quarter, the Trojans started to have lots of trouble with Pike County’s 2-3 zone missing lots of perimeter shots while not being able to get the ball inside. The Bulldogs took advantage by going on a 14-5 expanding their lead to 28-16 with three minutes remaining in the first half behind the scoring of senior Marquez Foster.

After a timeout called by CHHS head coach Carl Hollis, the Trojans regrouped by going on a 16-4 run to tie the game at 32-32. CHHS was able to comeback due to its ability of forcing several turnovers by getting easy points off transition. The Bulldogs, however, were able to hold a 33-32 lead at intermission after Tyrone Boyd hit one of two free throws with two seconds left.

The third quarter saw both teams exchanging baskets throughout the period as neither team was able to hold a lead of more than three points. The lead changed hands eight times and there were six ties before the Trojans (5-6) settled for a 47-46 lead heading into the final stanza.

In the fourth quarter, the Trojans finally pulled away from the stubborn Bulldogs as they went on a 17-6 run in the first 6:30 of the fourth quarter to break the game wide open. Jackson scored 10 points for the Trojans to key the spurt.

However, the Trojans kept Pike County in the game by turning the ball over and committing a pair of fouls on three point shots. However, the Bulldogs (3-7) couldn’t cash in as they made only two of six free throws down the stretch to keep the CHHS lead from being in any serious jeopardy.

Sophomore LaKory Daniels was the lone other Trojan in double figures with 25 points and four rebounds. Lawrence Mosley came off the bench to score nine points while Trevon Hemphill had four points.

Senior Tyrone Boyd led the Bulldogs with 21 points while Foster and Shermondre Jackson each scored 13 points in a losing cause. Boyd led the Bulldogs with six rebounds while Jackson followed collecting five boards.

The difference in the game was rebounding and free throws, with both statistics favoring the Trojans. Unofficially, CHHS outrebounded the

Bulldogs 23-to-20 using its quickness against the larger Bulldogs. Charles Henderson also won the game at the foul line hitting 21-of-28 foul shots compared to Pike County going just 16-of-31 at the charity stripe.

In the B-team game, the Trojans dropped a 77-70 decision to host Barbour County.

Following the Barbour County Tournament, the Trojans return to action Friday night when they open area play at Eufaula at 5 p.m. On the other hand, the Bulldogs will try to imporve on their 1-0 area record when travel to face the surprising Elba Tigers (6-3).

Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. in Elba.