Parker Henry can only look back on the 2020-21 season in frustration.

It started promising enough, as the West Lauderdale boys basketball team made it to the Christmas break with a winning record and high expectations for the MHSAA Region 4-4A portion of its schedule. But the Knights lost a 64-27 home contest against Leake Central, and things began to unravel.

“We were on a seven-game skid at the end of district,” Henry recalled. “We couldn’t get anything going.”

West Lauderdale then faced rival Northeast Lauderdale to open the Region 4-4A tournament in a game that went to double overtime. 

“Their guy made a shot with like two seconds left, and (Knights) Coach (Duran) Clark drew up a play,” Henry said. “We threw it in to a teammate, then to me, and I shot it, and it went in and out of the bucket.”

A 6-foot-9 1/2 senior, Henry averaged a double-double for the Knights this past season and proved himself an invaluable part of their starting rotation. This summer, Clark said Henry has stepped up to become more of a vocal leader during summer team activities instead of merely leading the team in production. His motivation all stems from that bitter ending in the divisional tournament, and Henry admitted he’s still haunted by it nearly five months later.

“It was heartbreaking,” Henry said. “It was very sad because whenever we got to the locker room I realized that would be my last game playing with some of my teammates I had been playing with for four or five years, and I built great friendships with a lot of those seniors. … I probably think about that game at least once a day. It just eats at me, and it motivates me to keep working hard so we can make a playoff run next year because we came short.”

Clark said he never blamed Henry for that loss, as the shot he took was a low-percentage shot anyway.

“He shot it from about 50 feet,” Clark said. “He just heaved it up at the buzzer, and it almost went in. I never mentioned it to him. If we had executed it the way we designed it, that was the best look we could get, and it wasn’t like it was a layup. I do think he’s using that to fuel himself for a breakout season.”

Along with becoming a vocal leader, Clark said Henry has also improved his mid-range game.

“He’s starting to make that mid-range jumper pretty consistently,” Clark said. “You don’t catch many guys close to 7 feet tall that can make that mid-range jumper, but he’s worked at it, and it’s starting to fall.”

Improving as a scorer was one of Henry’s main goals this summer, and it’s why he’s made his mid-range game so much of a focus.

“I work on that a lot,” Henry said. “I try to improve on that every day because the mid-range shot is hard to stop if you can get to your spots and you get to the places where you’re good at shooting. It’s all about getting to your spots and knocking the shot down.”

Clark said Henry is also proving his worth under the basket even more.

“Probably one of our biggest weaknesses was rebounding, but he’s become pretty solid at that, and now he’s starting to block a few shots,” Clark said. “There’s nothing like having a rim protector.”

Since he’s going into his senior season, Henry said he realizes how much the other players are depending on him not just for his production, but also for his ability to encourage and motivate them and make sure they’re running the correct offensive and defensive sets.

“Them needing someone to step up on the team and be a leader, I believe I’m the guy for it,” Henry explained. “With us losing six seniors, that would be best for the team.”

In Clark’s eyes, though, Henry’s best asset has nothing to do with basketball.

“Everyone always talks about his basketball skills, but he’s just a nice young man,” Clark said. “Whether he can play basketball or not, that’s probably the best compliment you can give him. He’s a good basketball player but an even better person.”

Upon hearing that, Henry said he was flattered by his coach’s opinion of him and hopes he can live up to that standard.

“It’s great to hear that from my coach,” Henry said. “Coach Clark is the same way. He’s a great coach, and it’s more than just coaching everyone on the team. He’s always looking out for you.”

There’s a long time between now and the winter, and Henry hopes by then the Knights will have developed into their potential.

“I think the sky is the limit with this team,” Henry said. “I think we lost a lot skill-wise with those six seniors, but we have a lot of time to improve on that, and our whole team plays hard. They give 100% the whole game.”