MORGANTOWN -- He was proud of the trophy he'd just won and happy with the statistics he'd accumulated in the process.
The points helped the team win, the rebounds gave his side opportunities while denying the opposition the amount it needed and while he couldn't believe he'd been credited with just one assist, he simply said it was something he needed to work on.
Yet of all the things South Charleston rising sophomore Perry Henry accomplished in the West Virginia Rush's 15-and-under championship Wednesday in the Hoop Group Summer Jam Fest, he was most satisfied with playing all 32 minutes -- in the sixth game in three days as the competition, the intensity and the pressure was as high as it'd been all week.
"All my teammates say I don't get tired on the court and I try to tell them they can do the same thing," Henry said after the game, when he declined an opportunity to take a seat for the interview and insisted he was not tired.
"You won't get tired if you don't want to. My mom always told me it's mind over matter. That's all it is, mind over matter. I go hard on every play and when my body says it's tired, I tell my mind I'm not tired, suck it up and keep going."
Playing the whole game against Washington D.C.'s Triple Threat was a treat, not a task, made easier by the days he spends in Kanawha City riding bikes and playing an endless string of pickup games with friends.
That, though, comes after a four- or five-hour workout in which he shoots 700 jumpers, lifts weights, works on dribbling and defending and then runs for a while.
"I never had a dad, but my mom always told me, 'There's always somebody out there working harder than you,'" Henry said. "I go to the gym every day and work hard and keep grinding so I know that when I come out here and get ready to play somebody, I'm going to take it out on them."
The 6-foot-3, 175-pound Black Eagles point guard led all scorers with 21 points and added nine rebounds and the one assist, though virtually everyone was sure he was near a triple-double late in the game.
"That's not good," he said. "In high school, I averaged nine. I don't know about that one assist. It can't be true. I've got to work on that."
Work he will because even though he's still so young in the game and new to the recruitment process, he's very aware of what it will take to get to where he wants to go. Henry's mother, Lora Stephens, taught him the value and the rewards of hard work long ago.
"My mom always says I should set my goals high and don't settle for anything," Henry said. "If I get an A in a class, so what? Go for the highest A in the class. If I do that, then get the highest A in the school. Don't ever settle."
MORGANTOWN -- He was proud of the trophy he'd just won and happy with the statistics he'd accumulated in the process.
The points helped the team win, the rebounds gave his side opportunities while denying the opposition the amount it needed and while he couldn't believe he'd been credited with just one assist, he simply said it was something he needed to work on.
Yet of all the things South Charleston rising sophomore Perry Henry accomplished in the West Virginia Rush's 15-and-under championship Wednesday in the Hoop Group Summer Jam Fest, he was most satisfied with playing all 32 minutes -- in the sixth game in three days as the competition, the intensity and the pressure was as high as it'd been all week.
"All my teammates say I don't get tired on the court and I try to tell them they can do the same thing," Henry said after the game, when he declined an opportunity to take a seat for the interview and insisted he was not tired.
"You won't get tired if you don't want to. My mom always told me it's mind over matter. That's all it is, mind over matter. I go hard on every play and when my body says it's tired, I tell my mind I'm not tired, suck it up and keep going."
Playing the whole game against Washington D.C.'s Triple Threat was a treat, not a task, made easier by the days he spends in Kanawha City riding bikes and playing an endless string of pickup games with friends.
That, though, comes after a four- or five-hour workout in which he shoots 700 jumpers, lifts weights, works on dribbling and defending and then runs for a while.
"I never had a dad, but my mom always told me, 'There's always somebody out there working harder than you,'" Henry said. "I go to the gym every day and work hard and keep grinding so I know that when I come out here and get ready to play somebody, I'm going to take it out on them."
The 6-foot-3, 175-pound Black Eagles point guard led all scorers with 21 points and added nine rebounds and the one assist, though virtually everyone was sure he was near a triple-double late in the game.
"That's not good," he said. "In high school, I averaged nine. I don't know about that one assist. It can't be true. I've got to work on that."
Work he will because even though he's still so young in the game and new to the recruitment process, he's very aware of what it will take to get to where he wants to go. Henry's mother, Lora Stephens, taught him the value and the rewards of hard work long ago.
"My mom always says I should set my goals high and don't settle for anything," Henry said. "If I get an A in a class, so what? Go for the highest A in the class. If I do that, then get the highest A in the school. Don't ever settle."
Henry's GPA is 3.2.
"I can do better," he said.
Stephens is more than a motherly mystic. She is, as Perry said, an inspiration. She's worked two jobs while raising Perry and his brother and two sisters. The kids live to make life better for their mother.
"She's a mom and a dad," Henry said. "When it's Father's Day, we get her a present. When it's Mother's Day, we get her a present for that, too. We love her to death because she works so hard for us.
"I grew up fast and I realized that basketball is what's going to take me out of here and help me take care of my mom. She won't have to work two jobs when I go to the pros."
There's little doubt the 15-year-old Henry, who grew two inches in the past five months, will take the next step in the process and earn a college scholarship. The attention started last summer when he played for the Ohio Basketball Club team that won the 14-and-under national championship.
He uses both hands comfortably and can do different things at different positions, which is perhaps the main reason the accolades started coming so quickly this season. Henry was the Kanawha Valley Freshman of the Year, first-team all-conference and a Class AAA All-State second team pick.
He averaged 11 points and six rebounds as a starter for South Charleston state finalists and already has scholarship offers from Marshall, Xavier and Akron.
More are coming and West Virginia is among the many schools that has expressed interest and watched him play this week. He was perhaps the best player in the Jam Fest's 15-and-under division.
"I'm not going to say I'm convinced I'm going pro and I don't want to sound cocky or overconfident," Henry said, "but what I go through and what I put myself through, I think I deserve it. I'm going to work hard to make it happen."
--Contact sportswriter Mike Casazza at mi...@dailymail.com or 319-1142.
