The Rome Wolves won their first Rome News-Tribune Holiday Festival title since 1999 last Thursday, but their time to celebrate is over.

That’s because head coach Dwight Henderson and his squad are back in action today at the Century Bank Holiday Hoopfest basketball tournament in Cartersville.

Rome (9-3) faces Class AAAAA member Centennial (9-3) in the first round at 4:45 p.m. at Cass High, and Henderson said he doesn’t know the first thing about the Knights.

“We don’t know anything about (Centennial),” said Henderson. “We’re going in blind. We’re just going to work on continuous improvement and get better for the region schedule that comes after the Christmas break.

“If we can win, we’re going to go for it. The cards could be stacked against us since we’re playing a tough team, and we could have a letdown after (the Festival). But I think our kids will try to bring their best.”

The Wolves are coming off a 48-44 win over No. 5 Coosa in the Holiday Festival finals, giving Henderson his ninth Festival title as a head coach.

“I think the quality of the young men on our team showed through and my assistants really helped,” said Henderson. “After we didn’t hit any outside shots in the first half, we went back to what we’re good at, which is the inside and mid-range game. (Ricky) Garrett was tremendous down the stretch and (Dexter) Powell made some big baskets as well.”

Henderson also credited his team’s perseverance for their victories over the second-place (Coosa), third-place (Cedartown) and fifth-place (Pepperell) teams in the Festival.

“Coming in, I didn’t think that we had as much continuity as some of the other teams,” said Henderson. “But when you put a team out there that believes in itself and believes in me and what we’ve done at the Festival in the past, it can make up for some things.”

Cedartown’s boys and girls, along with Trion’s boys and girls, also are in action today.

Cedartown’s boys and girls both face Bowdon in the first round of the Haralson County Invitational in Tallapoosa.

The girls game is set for 7 p.m. and the boys play at 8:30.

Trion is playing in the Gaston Holiday Invitational in Gadsden, Ala. The boys take on West End at 3:30 p.m., while the girls face Sardis in their opening-round game at 7:30