By Cameron Slavin ‘23

The Brother Rice Crusaders are currently 20-3 and their star guard Ahmad Henderson recently came off a historic night. Brother Rice, the number 7th ranked team in the state of Illinois, defeated Marist 49-48 on Tuesday, January 17. Henderson finished with 18 points, and he also reached 1,000 career varsity points.

A 5’10 guard, Ahmad Henderson will be attending Niagara University in Lewiston, New York, next fall. After reaching 1,000 career points, Niagara University congratulated Henderson and told him they were very proud of him and couldn’t wait for him to join the team.

After trailing 48-39 with 3:35 remaining in the fourth quarter, Henderson would go on to score ten unanswered points, making Brother Rice victorious.

Henderson knew he could be reaching 1,000 career varsity points very soon. Henderson said, “I knew it was coming but I just didn’t think I was going to hit it against Marist for sure.”

After the game, Henderson spoke with reporter Michael O’Brien from the Sun Times. O’Brien asked Henderson how it is playing in games like Marist and to just walk him through the last play and what kicked in for him to take over the last two minutes. Henderson said, “Those are the types of games I love playing in and look forward to.” Then Henderson pointed out how his teammates looked for him to make plays at the end of games and he delivered.

Henderson said, “It felt special to get 1k against Marist. It was the perfect setting to do it in and to do it in a comeback win like that made it even better.” Scoring 1,000 career points must have felt great; especially, reaching that achievement against a rival like Marist.

Henderson is the anchor of the Brother Rice basketball team. Senior forward Jimmy Navarrete said, “Ahmad is a great player and an even better teammate; he always puts the team’s success first. It was awesome seeing Ahmad accomplish this goal especially against Marist. As a team we need to lock in and keep playing Crusader basketball.” With the playoffs approaching, Henderson has the opportunity to add to his 1,000 career varsity points and a shot at a state title.

The battle of Pulaski is always a game to watch with a lot of emotions. Senior Brendan Arnold said, “The atmosphere was one of a kind; my ears were ringing the whole game, and to win a rivalry that big gave me bragging rights for the years to come.”