Heading into the postseason, the Mustangs are confident about state. After all, they’ve already won a record-breaking 26 games this season.

“It’s a great feeling breaking the record for most wins in school history, because we knew from the beginning that this season was going to be special,” sophomore small forward Kaeden Laws said.

Center Hill made history Feb.12 after defeating Lake Cormorant 105-72 in the first bracket of the Region 1-5A district tournament. They advance to the district championship game Feb. 15 against Olive Branch. That game will be played at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia.

“This Friday we hope to have a district championship, then compete for a state title,” guard Kevin Henry said.

A senior, Henry attributes the team’s wins to the championship mentality cultivated by head boys basketball coach Newton Mealer.

“We have started a culture of having a championship mentality,” Henry said. “Breaking the school record was a big accomplishment for the team. This accomplishment shows what we really are.”

To Laws, “championship mentality is not just the ability to win games,” he said. “It’s the hard work that we as a team have put in since the summer. We’ve worked so hard to get where we are and we’re still working every day. As a team we are more focused and more excited than ever for what is next to come. We know that we represent Center Hill and we know we have a lot of people and fans who want to see us succeed so we want to go and make everyone proud.”

Following the win over Lake Cormorant, Mealer said his Mustangs will be playing for their sixth District 1-5A Championship in seven years.

“It’s been a special season,” Mealer said. “One of the goals was to be the winningest team in school history. Our next goal is to march on to the state tournament.”

To accomplish that, “It takes a talented basketball team, and it takes guys that want to play for the team and not for themselves,” Mealer said. “I’m very optimistic.”