Henry serves up a little star power
Xavier Henry dominated the first eight minutes of Putnam City's opening game of the Putnam City Invitational boys basketball tournament.
His teammates dominated the rest.
Henry scored 21 points — 15 in the first quarter — as the Pirates rolled to an 80-36 blowout win over John Marshall at Putnam City West.
"We just coasted through the second and third,” Xavier Henry said. "Now, we're just waiting to see who we play.”
While Henry took a matter-of-fact approach to the game, Pirates coach A.D. Burtschi was effusive in his praise of Henry.
"It's nice when you have other guys on the team that can produce when you need it,” Burtschi said. "But we know where our bread and butter is.
"We have a luxury with him. We can develop other players, and when we need him, he's there. He also makes everyone else on this team better, and he trusts them.”
Putnam City (12-1) will play Westmoore, which beat Lawton Eisenhower on Thursday, at 8 tonight. John Marshall (3-5) will play Lawton Eisenhower.
Henry, the Pirates' 6-foot-6 junior who is widely considered the best player in the state, had plenty of eyes on him Thursday.
Former Kansas star and current Jayhawks assistant Danny Manning was in the stands, as was Memphis coach John Calipari.
While Henry said it's nice to get the attention — "That means they're still interested in you,” he said. — it doesn't change how he plays.
"You can't change your game in those situations,” he said. "I'm always the same player.”
And for one quarter, he was the most dominating guy around. In the first eight minutes, Henry outscored John Marshall all by himself as the Pirates built a lead that stretched to as many as 14 in the first.
He scored only six the rest of the way, hitting a 3-pointer late in the second quarter and another early in the fourth.
But his teammates did plenty to keep the Pirates' lead comfortable, with Hunter Gibson scoring 16, Tyler Earls 15 and Garen Wright 13 for Putnam City. Roderick Harper scored 15 to lead John Marshall.
While many are anticipating a championship game featuring No. 1 Putnam City and No. 3 Midwest City on Saturday night, Henry is unconcerned about matchups.
"It's be nice to play them, but all I'm concentrating on right now is us winning this tournament,” Henry said.
Xavier Henry dominated the first eight minutes of Putnam City's opening game of the Putnam City Invitational boys basketball tournament.
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