Air Trojans
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Since starting the season with a five-point loss on the road to Dothan, the Charles Henderson Trojans boys’ basketball team has been soaring ever since.
The team is currently riding a three game winning streak thanks to a win last Friday night over Barbour County and wins in back-to-back nights on Monday against Enterprise and on Tuesday against Abbeville.
“This was a good win for us,” CHHS head coach Carl Hollis said following the Trojans’ 68-54 win over the Jackets.
“[Abbeville] pushed us to the max, but we were able to come out on top.”
The team is now 3-1 in the young season, and 2-0 at home.
However, Tuesday night’s victory did not come without a bit of a scare. After jumping out to a 39-17 halftime lead, the Jackets fought back, going on a 19-6 run during the first five minutes of the third quarter.
Abbeville would pull to within nine points, however, that would be the closest it would get to the Trojans.
Clutching shooting down the stretch from a number of players helped CHHS cross to the 14-point win.
There were four players to score in double figures for the Trojans on Tuesday night.
Senior Jaquani Toney and junior Justin Davis led the way, each scoring 16 points.
Davis also finished with nine rebounds.
Junior Michael Zackery finished with a double-double, scoring 11 points and pulling down 10 rebounds while senior forward Mitchell McLeod finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks. Even with the win, Hollis was not pleased with his team’s performance during the early part of the second half.
“We blew the lead in the third quarter,” the coach said. “We tried to rest and they came at us full speed.”
Hollis said that he did not think playing back-to-back nights affected his team.
One area the coach was less than pleased about came from the charity strip.
“We were pathetic from the free throw line,” Hollis said. “We had a chance to really put the game away in the third quarter but missed so many free throws – this is something we will be working on in between games.”
At one point in the fourth quarter, the Trojans missed six straight free throw attempts.
Another aspect of the game the coach said needed improvement was the team’s conditioning.
“We got to be able to run.
“That was one thing that almost lost us the game tonight, not pushing the basketball up the court.
“[Abbeville] was able to move the back quickly and press us hard and we didn’t know how to react,” Hollis said.
The team will be in action again Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. as it takes on Dothan at CHHS.