For the second Friday night the Charles Henderson boy’s basketball team watched as the opposing team rushed the floor after winning the game at the buzzer.

After controlling much of the game the Charles Henderson Trojans fell to the Eufaula Tigers 58-57.

“We built a 15 point lead and we started to stand around,” said Trojan head coach Carl Hollis. “There were balls laying on the floor that went through our hands. There are guys standing around that are taking wide open three’s. We didn’t reach back and paid the price.”

After outscoring the Tigers 32-14 in the second and third quarters, the Trojans fell victim to unnecessary turnovers and easy baskets in the fourth.

 

“We beat ourselves again,” Hollis said. “We have beat ourselves all year. We are hard headed. We don’t execute and we want to do it our way. If we keep doing it all our way, then we are going to keep losing.”

Last week a clock malfunction caught the Trojans; this week, fatigue led to a lack of execution, Hollis said.

The Trojans carried a 46-31 lead into the game’s final quarter, but the Tigers closed the lead to 51-47 midway through the fourth quarter. After both teams traded a few baskets, the Trojans found themselves up once again at four with just under two minutes remaining.

The Trojans looked to have control when Cyree Foster sank a pair of free throws to give the Trojans a five-point lead with second remaining.

But Eufaula wasn’t done and the Tigers scored four points to tie the game at 56 with 27 second remaining.

The Tigers elected to intentionally foul Kordel Anderson who made his second free throw to put the Trojans up by one with just 15 seconds remaining

After multiple Trojan fouls and a Tiger timeout, Eufaula got an inbound pass in their own end with five seconds remaining. After a long shot clanked off the iron, the Trojans failed to get the rebound and Eufaula took an easy layup for the win.

“They all just stood there and watched the ball,” Hollis said. “The guy missed the shot. I could tell when it left his hand he was going to miss it and everybody watched it. You don’t allow that to happen. The game isn’t over. We experienced that last week. We walked through it all week and you come and do the same thing tonight. It’s no excuse. It’s a lack of effort.”

Anderson led the Trojans in scoring with 15 points, while Jalante Smith and Joshua Roberts also finished in double figures with 14 and 12.

Hollis said he plans to focus the players on discipline and the game ahead now. “I am going to work on their mind on Sunday,” Hollis said. “When we executed we built a 15 point lead then we wanted to play street ball. We want to play undisciplined.” The Trojans play at Enterprise Monday evening at 7:30 p.m.