On Saturday, the Charles Henderson Trojans (18-6) throttled the Eufaula Tigers (7-13) by a score of 63-39 in the Class 5A Subregional to advance to the Regional Round of the State Tournament next week. 

The two sides slugged it out early and after a Mel Rodgers dunk, the Trojans led 10-6 with 1:50 left in the opening period. Eufaula then drilled a three with 1:20 left to cut the lead to 10-9. From that point on, it was all CHHS. 

Charles Henderson proceeded to go on a 6-0 run to finish out the first quarter, Tyler Cross knocking down a jumper with just 10 seconds left to cap it off.

That run continued in the second quarter as Jydarien Burney stole an inbounds pass, after a pair of CHHS free throws, and then slammed it down to put the Trojans up 19-10 with 7:34 left in the half. Charles Henderson’s run extended to 23-1 over a seven minute stretch between the first and second quarters. 

Eufaula did not score its first points of the second quarter until the 2:37 mark. After a brief Tiger 4-0 run, the Trojans ended the period on a 7-0 run to take a 43-16 lead into halftime. The Trojans outscored Eufaula 27-6 in the second period. 

A couple of CHHS players got banged up late in the second quarter and Eufaula managed to take advantage of that by chipping away at the lead and outscoring the Trojans 13-4 in the third to cut the lead to 47-29 going into the final period. The fourth, though, was more CHHS dominance as the Trojans outscored the Tigers 16-10 to secure the victory. 

“We had a good first half,” CHHS Coach Tim Fayson said with a smile. “The second half got a little sticky but overall, I thought we played pretty well. Defensively, we try to hold teams under 40 points and we achieved that goal.” 

Burney earned a double-double in the win for the Trojans with 12 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists, while Tyler Cross scored 13 points and dished four assists. Kameron Christian scored 11 points and earned two steals and two assists, while Cody Cross added eight points, four rebounds and three steals. Damien Williams also tallied six points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal. Jamil Davis led Eufaula with 16 points. 

Charles Henderson now advances to the Class 5A Regional in Montgomery on Feb. 13, to face the winner of Williamson vs. LeFlore. 

“We’re happy to be back (to regionals) for the fourth year in a row,” Fayson said. “I just want to see our guys keep doing what we’ve been doing. We need to be a little more consistent but we’re still young and we’re still growing every game. We’re getting a little better every game. I just want them to go out and play hard and have fun.”