OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — As the basketball season fast approached, James Henry found himself in an uncomfortable state of limbo.
(James Henry huddles with his Venango Catholic team before a game/submitted photo)
The future of the Venango Catholic boys basketball team was very much in doubt. So was Henry’s senior season on the court.
There was a mountain of uncertainty weighing down on the 6-foot-1 guard, who had played at Oil City until this year. It wasn’t a good feeling.
“It was really hard because I didn’t really know what was going on,” Henry said. “The athletic director was trying to get a co-op with Cranberry at the time and they were letting me play fall ball with them at the time because we didn’t know if we were getting the team.”
Henry had all but given up hope when, just two weeks before the start of the campaign, a few Venango Catholic students decided to play and the season was pulled back from the brink.
No one was happier than Henry, who had spent the summer virtually living inside a gymnasium, working on his game.
Little more than a 3-point-shooting specialist during his high school career, Henry was poised to make a huge leap as a senior.
He worked on driving to the hoop with both his right and left hand. Worked on his midrange game and his handling of the basketball.
“In my opinion, it really helped me make a huge step,” Henry said.
Henry thrived on his Penn-Ohio AAU team, putting those skills he had cultivated in all those hours on his own doing drills to good use.
“I’d say this is really the first year I’ve ever really been an all-around-type of player,” Henry said. “That was something that I worked very hard on during the offseason. During my freshman, sophomore year, I was like literally one of the kids they would have out there just to knock down 3s. I was literally just one of the kids who would stand there, catch and shoot and do nothing else.”
That has certainly changed this year.
Henry is off to a sizzling start for the Vikings. He had 25 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and three steals in a win over Grove City Christian. He scored 16 points to go with 13 rebounds and six assists in a loss to Crawford Christian and hit for 28 points in a season-opening victory over Forest.
He’s averaging 22.3 points per game.
“He does a good job of leading the team, and helping command the floor,” said first-year coach Devon Geib, a former standout player at Oil City High School. “We have an offense pretty much designed around him, as well as our center, to help get other players open shots.”
Geib didn’t have much time to see his team, let alone prepare them for the season.
“I didn’t get my clearances until just before the first game,” he said.
It was a mad scramble once the green light was given to the team and the season.
One thing Henry knew for sure — he was going to have to produce.
“I didn’t really have any expectations,” Henry said. “I knew I had the capability to put up the numbers I am putting up right now. We put together a team pretty late, and I think we’re doing pretty well against the teams we’re playing. We didn’t have any open gyms or fall games or anything like that. Coming in we were
pretty unprepared.”
The Vikings, though, are catching up quickly. They are 2-2 and are already starting to gel.
The roster is still paper thin with just one reserve on the bench. But a reinforcement is coming soon to give Venango Catholic at least a little more breathing room.
Still, there is little margin for error, especially defensively.
Players have to be careful not to pick up cheap fouls. They have to walk a fine line between defending hard and defending too aggressively.
In a strange kind of way, Henry believes that has made them better.
“We definitely do not want to foul. We work on defense every single day,” Henry said. “I think it makes everyone a good defender, having to focus on making sure you’re fundamental and not reaching in and not doing anything stupid to get out of the game.”
The goals, though, remain the same for Henry and his teammates, no matter how many of them there are.
The Vikings are in this to not just compete, but to win.
“I know that’s the team goal. It’s my goal,” Henry said. “I don’t care if it takes me scoring five points, 10 points, 20 points, 30 points or who’s scoring those 20, 30 points. I just want to win and I want to make a playoff run. That’s what the coaches want, too.”
Geib and his assistant, Cullen Flaherty, know all about making playoff runs.
They were seniors at Oil City during the 2013-14 season when the Oilers made a playoff push.
“I’m very glad the school brought in these two coaches,” Henry said. “I mean, they are amazing coaches.”
Geib had a chance to play in college, but passed that up to focus on his studies.
Now he finds himself a high school coach charged with trying to build a program.
“I’m grateful that they chose me to try to help this team have a good season this year,” Geib said. “I’m a younger coach and I try to bring more of a player-friendly mentality, but also, I want the kids to go out and conduct themselves with character and respect and integrity on and off the court.
“Coaching was definitely part of my dreams and aspirations,” he added. “To be frank, I wasn’t expecting to do it so soon. I’m enjoying it. It’s a good group of kids and everyone is fighting to the last minute. We are short-handed, but we have great heart.”
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