Charles Henderson opened the second half of the basketball season on a good note. Though, it wasn’t as good as head coach Carl Hollis had hoped.

The Trojans held on late to defeat Brantley High School 48-46 in the opening game of the Ozark Shootout at the Ozark Civic Center on Wednesday.

Charles Henderson (7-6) looked strong out of the gate. Tyler Mitchell buried a three-pointer on the team’s first possession then, after a steal, Joshua Noel knocked down a jumper to help the Trojans to a 5-0 early lead.

Brantley would come storming back, however, on the back of two 3-pointers the Bulldogs swayed the momentum by scoring the next ten points.

“We didn’t look like the same team as we did a week ago,” head coach Carl Hollis said. “I thought we played extremely well in the Northview tournament but we didn’t look the same tonight.”

Charles Henderson would see Brantley extend the lead to 11 after a 13-2 Bulldog run.

The Trojans would pick up the pace late in the second quarter. Trailing 24-14, Devonta Jordan drilled a three to cut the deficit to seven. After a pair of baskets by DeQuante Shockley, Jordan struck again this time with a three-pointer with just 20 seconds remaining in the half to tie the contest at 28-28.

The second half started out just as the first had ended… all Trojans. Jordan hit a pair of jumpers, one from beyond the arc then Davantez Jackson added a lay-up with 2:06 remaining in the quarter to stretch the CHHS advantage to 42-32.

Then as if there were a lid over the basket, the Trojans just couldn’t find nylon.

Charles Henderson went 7:46 without a basket and watched as Brantley pulled to within two points, 42-40.

Mitchell, who finished with eight points, hit a jumper at the 2:20 mark but the Bulldogs countered with a pair of free throws. Noel grabbed an offensive rebound and made the put back then Robert Lee made the front end of a one-and-one with 50 seconds left to, what seemed to ice the game.

Brantley converted on two shot attempts in 12 seconds to close the gap to just a single point, 47-46.

Jordan, once again, came through in the clutch with a free throw in the final seconds help close out the victory.

“We were very flat and sluggish,” said Hollis. “We made some mistake that you just can’t make.”

Jordan would finish with a team-high 12 points. Shockley added eight.

“We won but you got to be able to enjoy your win,” Hollis said. “There were just too many mistake to enjoy this win.”

The Trojans play at 7 p.m. against the Andalusia-Luverne winner.