The Charles Henderson High Trojans jumped out to an early 19-7 first-quarter lead and never slowed down en route to an 85-48 win over the Rehobeth Rebels Tuesday night in the first round of the Class 5A, Area 3 tournament in Troy.

CHHS, improving to 18-8 on the season, will play Greenville Thursday night in Troy for the Area 3 championship at 7 p.m., while the CHHS Lady Trojans will play Carroll of Ozark at 5:30 p.m. Thursday evening.

In the boys game Tuesday evening, the Trojans emptied their bench early as 14 different players scored in the victory.

Terrell Sistruck led the Trojans with 14, Josh Foster added 11, Keonte Brantley scored 10, Keith Wheeler eight, Jay Taylor eight, Devin Parker and Marcus Grant scored seven points each, Cari Burney had six, Zac Henderson four, while Bradley Caldwell, Keelan White, Darryl Lee, Cortez Lee and Cody Youngblood had two points each.

After building a 19-7 first quarter lead, CHHS went up 38-16 at halftime, held a 66-37 lead after three quarters and cruised in the final stanza en route to the 85-48 victory.

Rehobeth was led by Jay Trawick with 21 points, Rob Draper added six, Kase Keasler four, Luke Strickland four, Trey Thomas four, while Andrew Warren, Jaquavious Welch, Jimmy Godwin, and Parker Turner add two points apiece, while Cameron Hovey hit one free throw.

CHHS Head Coach Doug Branson was pleased with the effort his varsity boys put on display Tuesday against Rehobeth, but said they will have a stronger challenge against a very physical and athletic Greenville team Thursday for the area championship.

“We were playing a team for a third time this season, (in Rehobeth) and we were hoping our guys would come out with some energy,” said Branson. “Playing at home was an advantage, but the main thing I talked to our guys about was let’s be us, let’s make sure we are getting better tonight. The guys worked hard and we came out on top.

“I thought Greenville looked very good, they came in and beat a Carroll of Ozark team that was very competitive. Greenville presents problems. They are big, they are long, they are athletic, they like to press and they like to trap. Those are some things that we are going to have to be able to handle. We are going to work on that Wednesday at practice, work on some things that they do, and see what we can do Thursday.”

CHHS’s opponent Thursday, Greenville, defeated Carroll of Ozark in the early game to advance to the area championship.