ROAD TO STATE
How Putnam North became the most unlikely basketball team at the state tournament
Ryan Wagner and his assistants often left practice shaking their heads.
They'd go back to the coaches' office
dumbfounded.
“What's going on here?” they'd ask. Then, they'd smile. “This is really cool.” Time and again this season, the players on the Putnam North boys basketball team surprised their coaches. Delighted them, really. Theirs has been a season like no other. And it's not just because of COVID. Or that cold snap that put the season
on ice for a couple weeks.
Putnam North also lost its superstar for the season after he was shot a month ago.
“They have every excuse in the book not to practice hard, not to stay focused,” Wagner said of his players. “And we never experienced that.” The payoff? Putnam North is headed back to state.
As the two biggest
classifications open play Thursday and the state high school basketball tournaments hit their full stride, there is no more unlikely participant than Putnam North. The Panthers had the same potential pitfalls that every team in Oklahoma faced this season, but in early February when Jeremiah Johnson was shot and rushed to the hospital in
critical condition, the dark clouds could've consumed them.
He isn't just Putnam North's best player.
He is the best sophomore in the state and a top-20 prospect nationally.
“At first, I was devastated,” senior Jeff Nwankwo said. “Not just a teammate but a brother being in the hospital, almost having his basketball career taken from him -- it just really hit us.”
On the night of Feb. 1, Oklahoma City police say a large group of people gathered in a parking lot near NW 48th Street and Classen Boulevard. A fight broke out, then gunfire.
Johnson had emergency surgery to remove two bullets.
He hasn't played for Putnam North since.
“He's doing really well,” his father and Panthers assistant Jeremy Johnson said. “He's definitely attacking everything the way he's supposed to. He's doing all the things you need to do to continue to get stronger and get better.
“He's making big strides.”
Jeremiah Johnson is on the road to recovery.
It was a road the Panthers had to travel, too.
How did they do it? The players say their journey back to state comes down to accountability — first to the program, then to each other.
Making state has become the expectation at Putnam North. The Panthers have been four out of the last five years, including 2018 when they won the gold ball. But after Johnson was shot, they knew nothing was promised them. He averaged 22.5 points and 4.0 assists a game. He was the primary ballhandler and star around which the Panthers spun.
Still, the Panthers resolved to figure it out.
Kole Johnson, the team captain, texted Nwankwo and his twin brother, Josh, and a couple other upperclassmen after they heard about the shooting.
“It's time to lock in,” Kole Johnson wrote.
But even as they embraced new roles — Josh Nwankwo would have to score more, Jeff Nwankwo would need to get to the rim more, Kole Johnson would have to play the point more — they lacked the one thing they needed. Games.
Three were canceled after the shooting, then just as Putnam North was getting ready to return to the court, bad winter weather hit. Two weeks worth of games were wiped out. The Panthers went nearly a month without playing.
Even though Wagner liked what he saw in practice — “They just kind of willed their way through this whole thing,” he said — he knew they needed to get on the court against another team before the playoffs started. Midwest City agreed to play the Monday after what was supposed to be the last week of Class 6A regular-season games.
The first half was a disaster for Putnam North, and at halftime, Wagner reiterated to his seniors what he needed from them.
“Coach Wagner got a little excited,” Wagner said, with a chuckle, “maybe raised his voice a little bit.”
Even though Putnam North lost to Midwest City that night, the Panthers rallied in the second half. Caught their stride. Realized how they needed to play.
Realized, too, how good they could still be.
Putnam North started the playoffs four days later and hasn't lost since.
“You never know until you experience adversity what kind of character you have,” Wagner said. “They've exhibited championship character.”
Friday when No. 6 Putnam North punched its ticket to state with a win over No. 3 Edmond North, the Panthers had an unexpected supporter there — Jeremiah Johnson. He arrived at halftime, shot a few baskets with his teammates before the second half, then joined them on the bench.
It wasn't the first time he had surprised them. He came to practice one day unannounced.
“It was really good,” his dad said. “I think that kind of sparked a little life into them, being able to see him because they hadn't seen him the entire time after what happened.”
Jeremy Johnson said being around the team has helped Jeremiah, too, as he works to get healthy.
“He sees a therapist daily,” his dad said. “They pretty much build his strength and things like that back in his legs.
“That's what he's doing now, on a road to recovery.”
It's a road Putnam North traveled. It overcame so many potholes and pitfalls. It navigated through so many twists and turns.
Along the way, the Panthers became the most unlikely team at state.
“It's just been an incredible journey,” Wagner said. “How these kids have matured and just come together and bonded … they just won't be denied.”