Trojans end season after 46-37 loss to Faith Academy

Published 3:00 am Thursday, February 18, 2016

The Charles Henderson boys’ basketball season came to an end Tuesday evening when they fell to Faith Academy 46-37 in the Alabama Class 5A sub-regionals.

The Trojans played what head coach Carl Hollis called their most complete game of the season, but it wasn’t enough.

“We probably played one of the better games that we played this year,” Hollis said. “We played a good ball club. They are probably one of the most disciplined ball clubs that we played all year.”

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After falling behind 17-4 in the opening quarter, the Trojans rallied to get back into the ball game. With a few minutes remaining and the Trojans down by four, a failed layup attempt turned into three points for Faith Academy. The Trojans never could recover.

“They drove us really hard,” Hollis said. “They are not much better than we are but they had depth on the bench with guys that can play.”

Hollis said his team finally embraced the play-style he sought.

“We did something I tried to get them to do all season long,” Hollis said. “We quit taking the first shot and trying to shoot it. We executed our offense. We made more than one pass in the second half especially.”

One of the key matchups heading into the game was between Charles Henderson’s Josh Roberts and Faith Academy’s Josh Hill. In the battle of big men Roberts was able to contain Hill until the 6-foot-5 player stepped outside and drained shots from the outside.

“Josh did a great job on him,” Hollis said. “He moved his game to the outside after he kept getting his shot blocked. He developed a three-point shot. He kept getting the skip pass from the guard and we could never recover.”

Kordel Anderson finished with 14 points for the Trojans, while Robinson finished with 10.

With the season now concluded, Hollis reflected on the team’s performance.

“I think we could have done better if I could have just gotten my kids to be just a little more disciplined,” Hollis said. “If we could have executed the way we should we could have been in the region tournament.”

The Trojans can also begin to look ahead to next season where they hope their younger players will continue to develop.

“I think next year we will have a better ball club,” Hollis said. “The younger kids have a tendency to buy in. I am losing three players in Smitty (Jalante Smith) Kordel (Anderson) and Cyree (Foster). I am looking for some younger guys to play.”