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Friday, January 19, 2001

Hensley one-ups Wagner with 101
Houston-area private school athlete betters New Jersey student
By George Vondracek
Caller-Times
Though Cedric Hensley didn't know it was happening, he was going to do DaJuan Wagner one better on Tuesday night.
   A 6-foot-4 junior for Heritage Christian Academy in Cleveland, located north of Houton, Hensley scored 101 points in the Eagles' 178-28 win over Tomball Banff Christian School. The same night, thousands of miles away in Camden, N.J., Wagner scored 100 in Camden High's 157-67 win against Glouchester Township Technical School.
   "There really wasn't too much in my mind," said Hensley, who owns a modest 22-point scoring average. "I really wasn't thinking about anything. I just wanted to score."
   Score he did, 50 by halftime and another 51 in the second half. It makes Hensley and Wagner the 13th and 14th high school players to hit triple-figure scoring, according to the National High School Sports Record Book.
   Jerome Tang, in his eighth year as HCA's coach, said he had planned on playing Hensley as much as possible Tuesday despite the team's overpowering offense. Though a young team - six of the 14 Eagles are either sophomores or freshmen - HCA has beaten its last three opponents by a combined score of 431-70, an average of 144-23.
   Tang said Hensley usually plays only one half.
   "He played the whole game," Tang said. "I thought a big game for Ced was going to be 50 points. But when he started going, I've never seen anything like it.
   "What pleased me the most is having four other teammates that could play Division I (college) basketball and to have them sacrifice like that for a teammate," he said. "They care. It makes us a much better team."
   However, the Eagles will be without Hensley's services for a while. The transfer from Texas City is scheduled to undergo day surgery today for a condition that neither Tang nor Hensley would disclose.
   Tang calls the matter "private." Hensley has twice postponed the procedure to continue playing.
   Something special
   Hensley will miss at least three games, including tonight's battle with rival Houston Westbury Christian.
   But with Hensley's surgery impending, Tang said the Eagles wanted to do "something special" for the junior forward.
   "We have six guys averaging double figures," Tang said. "Ced could probably average more if he was the focal point of the offense. He's just really a special player."
   Despite outscoring Banff Christian by 73 points by himself, Hensley credits his teammates. Junior Lamar Hurd had a triple-double against Banff (10 rebounds, 11 steals, and 32 assists), 6-5 junior Tim Mayes scored 21 points and 6-10 sophomore Elijah Miller added 10 points and 11 rebounds.
   A host of Division I schools is coveting all four, Tang said.
   "It was a team effort. It was like my last game before surgery," Hensley said. "It was like a present."
   Still, Hensley had to earn it. He began tiring with three minutes remaining, and was still 17 points shy of 100.
   "We took him out and I asked him, 'Do you think you can score 17 in 2¤ minutes?' " Tang said, "and he said that he could. He went back out there and didn't miss another shot and ended up with 101 points."
   Tang said he had told Banff coach Geoff Norton prior to the game that he intended on playing Hensley the entire TAPPS District 7-A ballgame. Thus, Norton said he wasn't irked at HCA's attempt to push Hensley past the century mark in points.
   "I was proud that my guys had a lot of heart and they didn't walk off the court discouraged," Norton said.


The Associated Press contributed to this report. Staff writer George Vondracek can be reached at 886-3731 or by e-mail at vondracekg@caller.com

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