New London — Facial expressions, borne of reflex and not calculation, often tell stories better than words. And so even when an interview subject may strive to be disingenuous, the face is always more honest and earnest.

Which is what made Bo McKinley's grin such a perfect illustration of how much the men's basketball team at Connecticut College — and the school in general — has accepted Doug Henton.

The mere mention of Henton's name the other day elicited a wide smile from McKinley, who associates his still somewhat new teammate with some laughs.

"Doug keeps us all entertained," McKinley was saying. "I think he's still trying to figure out where he fits in basketball-wise because he's only been here two semesters. But it feels like he's been part of it the whole time. Socially, he's the man."

The two-minute drill of the Doug Henton story: A kid from the city who had the academic acumen but not the financial means to attend Conn. His story came to the attention of local businessman Mike Buscetto, the Niantic-based philanthropic group "Power of Together" and Chris Soto, who runs "Higher Edge," which guides low-income and first-generation students through enrollment, retention, and graduation from college.

Together, they combined their resources and found the money and means that helped Henton live this dream.

And he couldn't be honoring their passions with more passion.

"Super kid," Conn coach Tom Satran said. "He's doing great in school. Just a pleasure to have him. He's really learning about this level of basketball. Love having him around."

Teammate David Labossiere: "He's the guy always keeping us up, keeping us entertained. Great guy to be around. I saw a video (on theday.com) of him saying he wanted to 'show the world what he could do.' Only Doug would say that."

Henton begins his third semester at Conn later this month. He played a basketball game for the Camels last Sunday against rival Coast Guard with many of his old New London buddies watching: Malcolm Simmons, Jevon Elmore, Khaleed Fields and Torin Childs-Harris among them. Henton was part of New London's last state championship team that went 27-0 in 2011.

"I'm loving it here," Henton said. "It's an honor to play in my hometown with all my friends watching and having a good time with my teammates. This won't last forever. I know I have to cherish these moments. And who better to do that with than your friends?"

Henton's success at Conn runs concurrent with the magic of Kris Dunn, his former Whaler teammate, at Providence. Dunn, the whiz kid, will be a lottery pick in a few months, bringing more glory to a high school that will be the only one in Connecticut to have graduates in the NBA (Dunn), NFL (Jordan Reed) and Major League Baseball (Rajai Davis) at the same time.

And yet Henton's story, because it has remained local, because its shapes and forms are more representative of most of the kids walking the halls now, bears as much attention.

New London High officials took the time last month to organize a trip to a Providence game to watch Dunn play. A noble effort, surely. How many times does one of your own blast through the roof nationally, raining plaster on everyone else below?

Humble suggestion: Arrange the same trip across town to Conn to watch Henton. He's much closer to being New London's Everykid. His background and his story are significantly more identifiable.

And lest anyone believe Henton is the beneficiary of a handout, as a few dim bulbs have suggested: He was ready to accept the benevolence of others because his grades were good enough to get into Conn. He had the 50,000-watt personality. Great people skills. Sense of humor. What, it's some coincidence that's the kind of kid people want to help? He met them halfway.

Now he's got the ball and he's running with it faster than everybody else. It's not just New London kids who should go over to Conn and watch Henton play. For one thing, they'll see an absurdly high level of basketball. And they'll see the kid next door thriving with the chance of a lifetime.

"The people here have welcomed me with open arms," Doug Henton said. "It's been such a great time. I'm trying to show the world. All the guys here still clown me about that to this day."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius