It's been the same story for Greenville coach Victor Smith. His Tiger basketball team always starts the game slow, but picks up speed toward the end.

But this time the second-half surge didn't come in either of Greenville's area games against Charles Henderson or Eufaula.

The Trojans knocked off Greenville 70-63 Friday night, and then Eufaula ripped the Tigers 62-47 Saturday night.

Charles Henderson coach Carl Hollis team always seems to find a way to lose in the last few minutes.

But this time it was Greenville's sloppy ball-handling late that cost the Tigers in the final minutes of Friday's game to give Charles Henderson (4-10) a key area win and what Hollis hopes is a big boost of confidence.

&#8220We needed this win in the worst way,” he said following the 70-63 victory. &#8220We've played eight or nine games that have been decided in the last few minutes and have lost. It feels good to come away with a win in a tight ballgame like this.”

The lead exchanged hands five times in the fourth period with Charles Henderson claiming the lead for good with 2:19 left to play. Then Demonte King scored eight of his game-high 24 points in the last to salt the game away .

Justin Green added 19, while Moses Griffin chipped in 11 for the Trojans, who will be back in action Tuesday night to host Greenville.

Charles Henderson had the game in control for most of the ballgame. The Trojans opened the game by holding the Tigers (8-6) scoreless for the first two minutes before taking a 19-10 lead into the second period.

&#8220I think having not played in almost a week and the turnovers were too much to overcome tonight,” Greenville coach Victor Smith said.

Despite poor ball-handling and numerous baskets that rimmed out, Greenville clawed its way back into the game to trail by one three points at the half.

The Tigers then opened the second half by scoring four straight points to claim their first lead of the game with 6:53 left in the period.

From there, it was back and forth. Charles Henderson managed to stay in the game by matching Greenville basket for basket until it regained the lead with 6:25 left to play in the game on a Green basket.

It was back and forth from there, until the Trojans took advantage of some crucial Greenville turnovers to come away with the win.

Edward Searight led Greenville with 19 points, while Isiah Mack added 14.

Greenville saw a 28-26 halftime lead slip away as Eufaula outscored the visiting Tigers 36-19 to post its first area win of the season, while Greenville

falls to 0-2 in the area.

Herbert Brooks poured in 19 points, including five 3-pointers to led Eufaula (13-6). Jim Thomas added 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Michael Young had 11.

Mack and Knight each had 13 points for Greenville.

Charles Henderson's girls team also had to shake off the rust from being off the floor since the week of Christmas but still came away with a 35-23 victory over the Lady Tigers.

The Lady Trojans (10-4) fell behind 8-1 to open the game, but came roaring back to take the lead for good and never looked back.

Despite both team's poor shooting, Charles Henderson managed to build a big enough lead in the first half to cruise the rest of the way. The Lady Trojans led 21-13 at intermission and then held Greenville to just 10-second half points to pull out their fourth victory in a row.

&#8220We only had one day of practice this week and it showed on the court tonight,” Charles Henderson coach Dyneshia Jones said. &#8220We started off slow in the first half, but we managed to pick it up defensively in the third and fourth periods.”

Erica Henderson paced the Lady Trojans with 11 points, while Bridget and Akeya Dixon added seven each.

Katoria McDonald led Greenville with seven.

Greenville's girls matched their sluggish performance Saturday

by falling to Eufaula in an 84-31 rout.

Four Eufaula players scored double figures with Terran Condrey leading the Lady Tigers (13-2) with 15 points.

Kendra Mitchell led Greenville with 11.