PVHS varsity boys basketball team began summer practices under new head coach Toby Henry

It’s been since 2021 that there has been a winning season for the Pahrump Valley High School boys basketball team, when the team finished with a .500 record.

Now the team looks to return to its winning ways with a new head coach at the helm.

Recently, the program welcomed Varsity Head Coach Toby Henry, who is also helping coach the varsity football program’s offense this season. Henry carries a combined 24 years of coaching experience.

“I’ve coached in Nebraska, Kansas, Europe and several different countries. I was the head football coach for Durango High School for five years and I coached at Liberty as the passing game coordinator for a year prior to coming to Pahrump,” Henry said. “I got here, man, and just loved it. These kids are awesome out here and they work hard. I want them to have a good basketball experience in high school like I did.”

Moving to Pahrump wasn’t a hard decision for Henry and his wife as both former CCSD teachers found comfort in the small-town appeal the community has to offer.

Henry was born in a small town in Nebraska and grew up outside of Houston, Texas where he played high school ball as a shooting guard and small forward in Stafford.

“Growing up, I played both sports but I ended up playing more football. I played quarterback and went on to play professionally in Europe for seven years after college but basketball, man, I was really good growing up, and my heart’s still in it.”

Similar to Henry’s high school basketball team, Pahrump’s squad this year isn’t necessarily filled with towering players. But what it is filled with, is talent and a lot of endurance.

“I got the job and it was like the next day we had a game in Vegas. I signed us up for a tournament and we were dying,” Henry said. “We had a couple of kids puking in the game because we’re getting after it full court.”

Coming into this year, the Trojans are without a couple of key players from last season in point guard Jack Toth, who transferred to Faith Lutheran, and seniors Tramaine Burras and Cartier Jenkins, who graduated out of the program.

“Here in the summer league, I’ve learned these kids can play man-to-man. I’ve coached a lot of teams where we were so under-matched that we couldn’t play,” Henry said. “If we can play it, we’re playing it. I like getting after it. Offensively we’ve got five guards out there, pretty much five-out offense, and we’re a running read and react offense.”

During their open gym sessions that run Monday through Thursday from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., the team is focused on conditioning to prepare for trying to run more aggressive full court defense later in the game and working on their passing touches in the new offense.

So far the open gym turnout has seen around 25 participants consistently in the first week.

“I want these kids to have fun and teach them hard work and discipline like on the football field. You know, holding each other accountable and if somebody is not going hard, we need the players to speak up and get after them,” Henry said. “It’s not always the coaches, and just all the time when they step on this court, they’re freaking playing like their hair is on fire.”

Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@pvtimes.com. Follow @jaypowers__ on X