By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–It seems as though the Helena boys basketball team has turned a corner as tournament play is a little more than a month away.

The Huskies defeated the Central Falcons 64-51 at home on Jan. 5 to remain undefeated in area play.

The Huskies notched the program’s first-ever tournament win after traveling to Mobile over Christmas break, where the team took home the first place trophy in the UMS-Wright Tournament and the momentum carried over against Central.

The win against Central marked Helena’s 11th victory in their last 13 games and head coach Chris Laatsch thought his team was focused coming back from the Holiday break.

“I think our guys were focused, hungry and ready to win,” said Laatsch. “They’re a really good team (Central) and were a sweet 16 team from a year ago so I knew we were going to have to work hard. Our guys did a great job of moving the ball and making extra passes and hitting the open guy.”

The Huskies finished the game with seven three-pointers and Jon Brown led all scorers with 16 points. Landon Genry provided a spark off the bench for the Huskies, hitting three timely three-pointers.

Helena held a slim 27-23 lead heading into halftime and the Huskies broke the game open in the third quarter.

Helena outscored the Falcons 21-10 in the third quarter, capped off by a three-pointer at the buzzer by Jaylen Harris to stretch the lead to 48-33.

The Falcons could not overcome the deficit and Helena went on to preserve the victory, 64-51.

Helena will try to stay undefeated in area play as they travel to take on the Calera Eagles on Friday, Jan. 8.