Mr. Do It All: LHS senior Logan Henrichs versatile

Lawrence High senior Logan Henrichs (32) hangs in the air as he lofts a shot over Connor Soukup during Lawrence High’s game against Olathe South Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012 in Topeka.

It’s not every night that Logan Henrichs’ stat line jumps off the page and demands attention.

It often looks something like this: a handful of rebounds, a few assists, a couple buckets, maybe double-digit scoring. Nothing flashy, extraordinary or eye-popping.

But ask the Lawrence High senior’s teammates and coaches about Henrichs, and they deliver rave reviews. The thing about the 6-foot-2 guard is, he does a little bit of everything. And he does it all well.

As LHS coach Mike Lewis put it: “He’s stepped up and provided a number of positive things for this basketball team that are oftentimes missed by people that look at point totals or wins and losses. He provides a lot of intangible things that are pretty special.”

There isn’t really one area, Lewis said, where Henrichs stands out, but his six rebounds a game leads Lawrence (12-7). Lewis said Henrichs has a nose for the ball and competes on the glass, but he also scores around the basket and can either spot up or go to the rim off the dribble. Basically, he is a balanced attacker who contributes 9.5 points a game — second on the team, behind senior KJ Pritchard’s 10.9 average.

Pritchard said his back-court mate is a multi-dimensional, do-it-all player who makes an impact whenever he is on the floor.

“He can pick his times where he wants to be aggressive,” Pritchard said, “and when he wants to be more passive and get his teammates involved.”

Henrichs admittedly enjoys dabbling in all aspects of the game.

“I don’t feel like I’m stronger in a certain area,” he said. “I just try to do everything possible I can. If it’s rebounding one night, then I’ll go and get rebounds.”

While Henrichs shoots 40 percent from inside the arc, 36 percent from three-point range and 72 percent at the foul line, he also averages 2.7 assists and just more than one steal and leads LHS with nine charges drawn.

His versatility on both ends of the floor, senior Anthony Buffalomeat said, is undeniable. But there’s even more to it than that.

“He’s like a natural leader,” Buffalomeat said, “and whenever he’s on the court, he wants to win. He’ll do anything to help our team.”

That approach, Henrichs said, comes from taking on different roles over the past four-plus years. At Central Junior High, he was more of a lead player. Then his first couple of seasons at LHS, he was an underclassman and took a different role. As a sophomore and junior at LHS, he just tried to find different ways to gain playing time.

“I think that’s just carried over to my senior year,” he said.

Lewis knew even before Henrichs became a contributor as a sophomore that he was a special player, and as the quiet senior has shown his capabilities, the coaches have asked even more of him because they see his overall potential.

What has made the Lions successful this season is having a combination of perimeter options who play the game much like Henrichs does. Much of LHS offense is based around movement away from the ball, and the freewheeling approach, which Lewis said isn’t always perfect, has made Lawrence difficult to guard. Pritchard, Buffalomeat and Henrichs all have similar-enough skill sets that any one of them can beat their man in a variety of ways.

“They’ve gotten to a point where they’re playing pretty good,” Lewis said. “It’s about playing together.”

Henrichs said the senior trio, as well as juniors Shane Willoughby and Jake Mosiman and senior back-up guard Troy Willoughby, all work to get each other shots or feed their sophomore center, Bryce Montes de Oca.

“We’ll drive to get the open man, go baseline, maybe give up a jumper here to get a wide-open shot from another area,” Henrichs said.

They’re hoping that approach will do the trick at home tonight at 7 in the City Showdown rematch against Free State. The Lions won, 75-68 in overtime, on Dec. 16, 2011, at FSHS.

That LHS victory snapped a four-game losing streak in the series for Lawrence, but considering tonight’s game also will serve as Senior Night, Pritchard said it will be the biggest game of the year to date.

“This is our Super Bowl,” he said.

With Henrichs contributing in a variety of ways, the Lions are poised to do whatever they can to earn the season sweep.

“I don’t think one victory is enough this year,” Henrichs said. “We definitely want two.”