The Charles Henderson Trojans begin 2017 with an eye towards hosting the area tournament at the end of the season.

The Trojans went into the Christmas break with an 8-8 record.

“We had a good break and beat up on each other,” said Trojans head coach Shelby Tuck. “It’s like we are starting a second season. This is going to be the most important time of our season.”

The Trojans began the season with many ups and downs that finished with buzzer beater losses and close wins. As the calendar flips to 2017, Tuck and the Trojans are looking for more of a consistent second half.

“We played some good basketball at times, but we let two or three games slip away from us,” Tuck said. “I think we have learned from that and we are ready for the challenge that is ahead of us.”

Without the buzzer beaters and close losses, the Trojans could be sitting at the break with just one or two losses. But for the Trojans that is not reality and it’s time to move forward.

“We have learned from our mistakes,” Tuck said. “Throughout a game there is going to be adversity. We have to be able to overcome that adversity and unify ourselves as a team and take on the challenge.”

Throughout the summer and early portions of fall, the Trojans spent time molding their young and inexperienced guards. It’s still a work in progress.

“We have had spells where we have looked pretty good,” Tuck said. “Then we also have lapses when they kind of lost their minds and got sped up when under pressure. We were able to work on that during the break and hopefully we can come back and limit our mistakes.”

The break came at a good time for the Trojans. Even though they would have loved the chance to play in multiple tournaments, Charles Henderson welcomed the rest especially when it came to their injured players.

“It was great for us,” Tuck said. “We have three guys out right now. Kolby Jones is out with a bumped up ankle right now. We just have banged up wrists and it was a great break for us and the guys were able to get healthy for us.”

They play one more game at home against Carroll on Thursday before they begin the gauntlet of area play. The goal is to be able to host the area tournament at seasons end.

After Carroll the Trojans will play their next four straight inside the area.

“We are going to have some big challenges,” Tuck said. “We will no the faith in the area over the next two weeks. Our main goal right now is to be able to host area. That would be a great goal if we can accomplish it.”

The Trojans will host Carroll at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.