The Charles Henderson Trojans saw their season come to an end on Thursday with a 60-59 loss to the LeFlore Rattlers in overtime of the the Class 5A Regional Semifinals from Montgomery’s Garrett Coliseum.

The feisty Trojans trailed by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter but still rallied to tie the score at the end of regulation. CHHS trailed 36-29 going into the fourth but Charles Henderson’s Damien Williams opened the final frame with a three-pointer that cut LeFlore’s lead to 36-32. The Rattlers then went on a 10-0 run that gave them a 46-32 lead with 5:20 left.

Charles Henderson began to claw its way back into the game. With 1:3 left, Cody Cross drilled a three-pointer that cut the LeFlore lead to 50-46. After Rattler free throws, Kam Christian knocked down a layup and then earned a steal followed by another layup. Christian was also fouled on the second layup and his free throw cut the LeFlore lead to 53-51 with 50 seconds remaining.

The Trojans fouled to conserve time but LeFlore knocked down a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 55-51 with 40 seconds left. Charles Henderson missed a pair of three-point attempts on the next possession but solid offensive rebounding allowed Jydarien Burney to get to the free throw line and a pair of free throws cut the lead to 55-53 with 16 seconds remaining.

Kam Christian then stole the LeFlore inbounds pass and knocked down a layup with 5.5 seconds left to tie the score 55-55 and send the game into overtime. Charles Henderson took its first lead of the game to open overtime with a pair of Christian free throws.

LeFlore connected on 1-of-2 free throws to cut the CHHS lead to 57-56 with 2:28 left. Tyler Cross drove down the lane and knocked down a floater off the glass with 2:04 left to extend the CHHS lead to 59-56. LeFlore’s O’Brian Evans answered with a jumper to cut the Trojan lead to 59-58 with 1:34 left. The Rattlers blocked a CHHS jumper on the ensuing possession and LeFlore’s Kieman Smith-Franklin hit a layup to give LHS the lead 60-59 with 30 seconds remaining.

After a Charles Henderson miss, the Trojans fouled with 6.5 seconds left. LeFlore missed both free throw attempts and Williams grabbed a rebound on the second attempt and heaved it to Cody Cross down the court. Cross then dished the ball to a wide-open Christian. Just before Christian sunk a potential game-winning layup the buzzer went off signifying Charles Henderson’s one-point defeat.

The game started with LeFlore controlling things in the first quarter and Charles Henderson trailed 14-6 going into the second period. Charles Henderson’s Carter Ford knocked down a three to open the second frame to cut the Rattler lead to 16-11. After a CHHS free throw, LeFlore then proceeded to go on an 8-0 run to take a 23-12 lead with 4:05 left in the half.

Charles Henderson answered with an 8-0 run of its own, jump-started with a layup from Tyler Cross followed by a three-pointer from the senior. Mel Rodgers then grabbed his own rebound and put the ball back to cut the LeFlore lead to 23-19 with 1:35 left in the half. Charles Henderson’s run came to 8-0 with a free throw with just seconds remaining in the half. LeFlore took its slim 23-20 lead into halftime.

Charles Henderson came out swinging in the second half with a layup from Jyderian Burney to cut the lead to 23-22 in the third quarter but the Rattlers then went on a 6-0 run to take a 29-22 lead. Cody Cross broke the run with a three-pointer that cut the LHS lead to 29-25 with 3:36 left in the third. The two sides traded baskets and free throws for the next several minutes and LeFlore took a 36-29 lead into the final period.

Charles Henderson shot 36.4 percent from the field and LeFlore shot 36.8 percent. LeFlore won the rebound battle 44-36 and outscored CHHS 30-26 in the paint and 20-16 in second chance points. The Trojans, though, forced 21 turnovers and scored 19 points off those turnovers.

Christian led CHHS with 17 points, three rebounds and five steals, while Tyler Cross tallied 12 points, four rebounds and two steals. Burney chipped in with eight points, five rebounds and three blocks, while Cody Cross dished three assists. O’Brian Evans led LeFlore with 22 points, while De’Antonio Leseuer scored 10 points and dominated the boards with 19 rebounds and two blocks.