MID-PRAIRIE BOYS BASKETBALL

Bryce Henry scores 25 twice for Golden Hawks

By Paul D. Bowker
Posted 12/20/24

WEST BRANCH

First, senior guard Ace Peck, who scored 23 points in the season opener, went down with an ankle injury in practice more than a week ago.

Then, after scoring 30 points in his …

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MID-PRAIRIE BOYS BASKETBALL

Bryce Henry scores 25 twice for Golden Hawks

Posted

WEST BRANCH

First, senior guard Ace Peck, who scored 23 points in the season opener, went down with an ankle injury in practice more than a week ago.

Then, after scoring 30 points in his high school varsity starting debut, Brooks Weber also went down with an ankle injury in practice.

So … what to do?

With both of them on the bench for a pair of games last week, Bryce Henry, a junior, stepped up with consecutive 25-point games.

Friday, he hit for 25 as the Golden Hawks won their fourth consecutive game, 63-46, over West Branch.

“Ace had his night and Brooks had his night,” Golden Hawks head coach Daren Lambert said, “but Bryce had 15 points in one of those games and 20 in the other. He can score and he can score in bunches.”

Henry emerged as the number two scorer in the River Valley South, trailing only Regina Catholic’s Will Litton.

Mid-Prairie, winning its first four games for the first time since the 2021-22 team won its first 24, plays at Durant on Friday in its final game before a two-week break for the holidays.

While Henry has become the Golden Hawks’ top scorer the last two games as Peck and Brooks Weber recover from injuries, his ascension on the scoring page is no surprise. A starter, Henry has scored at least 20 points in three of the team’s four games and has hit double figures in all of them.

He was the team’s leading scorer last year as a sophomore.

And now, with two Mid-Prairie starters on the bench, Henry is seeing lots of defensive pressure as the go-to Golden Hawk.

“He still found the shots. Teammates are stepping up,” Lambert said. “He’s done a tremendous job of responding to things that are thrown at him.”

Mid-Prairie pulled ahead 33-21 at halftime and 50-37 after three quarters, but had to withstand several rallies by West Branch in what was a physical game fought at both ends of the court.

“It was definitely physical,” Lambert said. “It always is here. Maybe a little bit more physicial than usual tonight, but we’ve got a lot of guys that can match that physicality.”

Among them: junior Hudson Ehrenfelt, an All-State football player who grabbed a game-high 7 rebounds and had 2 steals. The Golden Hawks outrebounded the Bears, 30-20.

“We talked about it pregame,” Lambert said. “Expect it, embrace it, rise above it. And we did that in all phases. Just really proud of how they responded to the different things that were thrown at them tonight.”

Mid-Prairie senior guard Brady Weber had a game-high 3 steals, a game-high 4 assists and scored 10 points.

Jayden Harris scored 22 points for West Branch (1-4).

Mid-Prairie 72,

Pekin 32

Bryce Henry scored a game-high 25 points, leading the Golden Hawks to a 72-32 win over Pekin in a nonconference game played last Thursday.

Henry hit more than half of his shots and had five 3-pointers.

Kaden Kos added 11 points and 7 rebounds for the Golden Hawks, and Brady Weber had 10 points and 3 assists.

Henry scored 15 points in the first half as the Golden Hawks cruised ahead by a 40-14 score.

Henry also had a team-high 4 steals and Hudson Ehrenfelt had 4 assists.

 

GAME STATS

MID-PRAIRIE 63, WEST BRANCH 46

Mid-Prairie     18   15   17   13  -- 63

West Branch   14    7    16    9  --  46

Mid-Prairie scoring: Bryce Henry 25, Brady Weber 10, Kaden Kos 8, Hudson Ehrenfelt 7, Conner Wiles 6, Kale Miller 5, Landon Kos 2.

West Branch scoring: Jayden Harris 22, Brennen Dale 9, Brandon Pedersen 5, Nathan Hills 4, Brandon Pickett 4, Lincoln Naber 2.

Mid-Prairie leading rebounders: Ehrenfelt 7, Wiles 5.

West Branch leading rebounder: Pickett 5.

MID-PRAIRIE 72, PEKIN 32

Mid-Prairie scoring: Bryce Henry 25, Kale Miller 12, Kaden Kos 11, Brady Weber 10, Hudson Ehrenfelt 7, Conner Wiles 4, Keegan Bauwens 3.

Pekin scoring: Cole Millikin 13, Will Adam 13, Henry Adam 3, Nolan Glick 3.

Mid-Prairie leading rebounders: Kaden Kos 7, Ehrenfelt 6, Wiles 6.

Pekin leading rebounder: Alijah Brock 4.

Mid-Prairie, basketball, Bryce Henry