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Lincoln and Lance take aim at four-peat
By Zachary Braziller December 3, 2008
Lance Stephenson already has three city championship trophies and two state crowns on his impressive resume. He is the No. 1 ranked senior in the country according to The Hoop Scoop and has his pick of top Division I colleges.
Life couldn’t be better for Mr. Born Ready, the focus of an Internet reality series. Well, maybe.
“I would do anything,” he said, “to get four (championships).”
The latest Coney Island phenom spent the preseason preparing his teammates for the rough road ahead. Stephenson has taken on more of a leadership role on a Railsplitters team that returned just six players from last season’s group and has three sophomores – St. Patrick’s transfer Shaquille Stokes, the starting point guard, and reserves Lazaro Martinez and Codion Becker – expected to contribute.
He recently lectured fellow senior Darwin (Buddha) Ellis in study hall about the important of staying on top of his books.
“He’s becoming a mature high school kid,” coach Dwayne (Tiny) Morton said.
“He’s pushing everybody a little harder in practice,” power forward James Padgett added. “He knows he has to be more of a leader.”
With one more city championship, Stephenson, along with Ellis, would become the first player to win four, the same amount fellow Coney Island stars and NBA players Stephon Marbury (1) and Sebastian Telfair (3) combined for. Stephenson is also on the highest ranked Lincoln team preseason-wise. The Railsplitters are third in USA Today’s national poll and could play up to as many as five nationally televised games depending on how they fare in non-league tournaments.
“It tells us we’re finally getting recognized,” Morton said.
For good reason. Stephenson is likely the best perimeter player in the nation, a 6-foot-6 dynamo who can shoot the lights out and dominate under the glass. The 6-foot-8 Padgett, a Maryland commit, has no equal in the paint in the PSAL and Ellis is as accurate a 3-point shooter as they come. Then there is Stokes, who will run the point, and powerful 6-foot-6 forward Davon Walls rounds out the starting lineup.
But the Railsplitters’ depth doesn’t end there. Forward Allen West, a 6-foot-7 shot-blocking demon, has been a pleasant surprise. Guards Raymond Oloughlin, Martinez and Becker are all solid on-ball defenders that will enable Morton to press and trap more.
“I’m lucky,” Morton said. “We can gamble more on defense.”
Of course, as Morton repeatedly maintained, the preseason accolades and talent on paper mean nothing when the ball is thrown up, a message his players have bought into. After every title, the 14th-year coach starts anew – new players, new goals, new mission. It helps that there are so many newcomers, either transfers who are hungry to join the winning tradition or bench players who want to experience it themselves on the court.
“We got a lot of kids who never played on the Garden floor,” Ellis said.
And when the longest-tenured members, Ellis and Stephenson, are working just as hard as the underclassmen, that serves as motivation for others. The two, Ellis said, are treating this season like it is brand new.
“We’re acting like we just transferred,” he said. “Everyday is like our last day.”
Said Stephenson: “This is very important to me. I got to make sure everybody remembers me.”
zbraziller@fiveborosports.com
Life couldn’t be better for Mr. Born Ready, the focus of an Internet reality series. Well, maybe.
“I would do anything,” he said, “to get four (championships).”
The latest Coney Island phenom spent the preseason preparing his teammates for the rough road ahead. Stephenson has taken on more of a leadership role on a Railsplitters team that returned just six players from last season’s group and has three sophomores – St. Patrick’s transfer Shaquille Stokes, the starting point guard, and reserves Lazaro Martinez and Codion Becker – expected to contribute.
He recently lectured fellow senior Darwin (Buddha) Ellis in study hall about the important of staying on top of his books.
“He’s becoming a mature high school kid,” coach Dwayne (Tiny) Morton said.
“He’s pushing everybody a little harder in practice,” power forward James Padgett added. “He knows he has to be more of a leader.”
With one more city championship, Stephenson, along with Ellis, would become the first player to win four, the same amount fellow Coney Island stars and NBA players Stephon Marbury (1) and Sebastian Telfair (3) combined for. Stephenson is also on the highest ranked Lincoln team preseason-wise. The Railsplitters are third in USA Today’s national poll and could play up to as many as five nationally televised games depending on how they fare in non-league tournaments.
“It tells us we’re finally getting recognized,” Morton said.
For good reason. Stephenson is likely the best perimeter player in the nation, a 6-foot-6 dynamo who can shoot the lights out and dominate under the glass. The 6-foot-8 Padgett, a Maryland commit, has no equal in the paint in the PSAL and Ellis is as accurate a 3-point shooter as they come. Then there is Stokes, who will run the point, and powerful 6-foot-6 forward Davon Walls rounds out the starting lineup.
But the Railsplitters’ depth doesn’t end there. Forward Allen West, a 6-foot-7 shot-blocking demon, has been a pleasant surprise. Guards Raymond Oloughlin, Martinez and Becker are all solid on-ball defenders that will enable Morton to press and trap more.
“I’m lucky,” Morton said. “We can gamble more on defense.”
Of course, as Morton repeatedly maintained, the preseason accolades and talent on paper mean nothing when the ball is thrown up, a message his players have bought into. After every title, the 14th-year coach starts anew – new players, new goals, new mission. It helps that there are so many newcomers, either transfers who are hungry to join the winning tradition or bench players who want to experience it themselves on the court.
“We got a lot of kids who never played on the Garden floor,” Ellis said.
And when the longest-tenured members, Ellis and Stephenson, are working just as hard as the underclassmen, that serves as motivation for others. The two, Ellis said, are treating this season like it is brand new.
“We’re acting like we just transferred,” he said. “Everyday is like our last day.”
Said Stephenson: “This is very important to me. I got to make sure everybody remembers me.”
zbraziller@fiveborosports.com