Player of the Week : Wright Is Tough to Hold Down

Patrick Henry High School’s Howard Wright was so effective in the early rounds of the recent Santana Tournament that the Santana basketball team decided the only way to stop the Patriots was to stop Wright.

With the entire Santana defense collapsing on him, Wright passed to open teammate Kensey Smith, who scored a season-high 24 points, to lead Patrick Henry to a 76-64 championship-game win.

“It doesn’t matter if I score 1 or 21 points,” Wright said. “Kensey and I worked well together that game.”

Don’t think for an instant that Wright was held to one point. The 6-foot 8-inch forward scored 15 points, 11 in the final quarter. He averaged 19 points in four games in the tournament, including 30 against Granite Hills in the first round, and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

For his efforts, Wright has been named The Times’ Player of the Week.

“People tend to single me out as the leader of this team,” Wright said. “That is by no means the truth. There’s a wealth of talent on this team.”

Wright hopes that talent will carry the Patriots to the CIF championship game and a possible rematch against defending champion Poway. The Titans beat Patrick Henry in last season’s title game.

“Losing CIF has to turn you on to working even harder,” Wright said. “If the rankings stay the same as they are now (Poway is No. 1 and Patrick Henry is No. 2), we will be seeded in separate divisions (brackets) in the playoffs. And the only time we would play each other would be in the Sports Arena.”

Wright is the son of former San Diego Charger offensive tackle Ernie Wright. Howard’s older brother, Ernie Jr., was an All-County tight end at Patrick Henry and has graduated from the University of Kansas, where he played linebacker.

Howard got an early start on continuing the family athletic tradition when he started on the Patrick Henry varsity basketball team as a 14-year-old sophomore.

Despite his basketball success, Wright said he has plenty yet to learn.

“I listen to everything coach Zig (Patrick Henry’s Fritz Ziegenfuss) has to say at practice,” Wright said. “But I haven’t been able to master the complete game.”

Already dominant inside, Wright and Ziegenfuss are working together to develop Wright’s outside shooting.

“Coach Zig told me that after high school they’re not going to be able to just lob the ball inside to me,” Wright said. “I haven’t been able to work on it (outside shooting) in the games because I play the low post.”

The Patriots are 13-0 this season and begin play in the City Eastern League, the county’s toughest league, on Friday at Mira Mesa.

“We have a long 10 games ahead of us,” Wright said. “Morse is the toughest. They have a big front line and score so fast. Every year, they give us our hardest game.”

Position: Forward Height, Class: 6-8, Sr. Last Week: Averaged 18 points-per-game and named Most Valuable Player in the Santana Tournament. Season: Has scored 246 points in 12 games. Wright is 12th in the county in scoring, averaging 18.9 points per game.