Stepheson Rises to Another Level
Basketball is a game for giants, and 6-foot-10 Alex Stepheson of North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake is making everyone look awfully small.
Over a 14-game stretch, Stepheson has been rebounding as if he could leap tall buildings in a single bound. He has grabbed 21 or more rebounds 10 times during his monthlong tear. In consecutive games, he had 32 and 31.
“I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it at any level,” Coach Greg Hilliard said.
Stepheson’s hands have become almost magnetic in attracting missed shots. He dares the undersized 6-foot guards to sneak in and try to strip him of the ball.
“This year, I’m keeping the ball high. They’re going to have to jump and get it,” he said, having learned his lesson last season, when he had 146 turnovers.
Stepheson reaches lots of rebounds simply by being the tallest player under the basket. But there’s more than size at work.
“Everyone who’s coached players of his caliber [knows that] sometimes [in] the latter part of their career, some kind of light goes on,” Hilliard said. “It’s catapulted him to another level. He’s reaching out with those long arms. It’s a little scary because the little guys playing with him and against him are starting to back off.”
Coach Bryan Cantwell, whose West Hills Chaminade team was the victim of Stepheson’s school-record 32-rebound performance this month, was amazed by Stepheson’s ability to rebound without drawing fouls.
“He’s good at not going over people when boxed out,” Cantwell said. “Some coaches will complain, ‘He’s going over their back.’ He doesn’t do it.”
Stepheson has already broken the school record for career rebounds held by New Jersey Net center Jason Collins. Stepheson did it in three years of varsity competition compared with Collins’ four.
Added strength, better stamina and more maturity are reasons for Stepheson’s late-season surge into becoming one of the Southland’s most dominant players.
“This summer, the weight room made a big difference,” he said. “I feel a lot more coordinated with my body.”
Stepheson also credits a summer talk with Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic for giving him insights on ways to excel.
“He told me about basketball, academics, religion, and influenced me to step my game up,” Stepheson said.
There was a time when Stepheson wasn’t the tallest in his family.
“My mom used to always look down on me when I was little, but she can’t anymore, even though she tries,” Stepheson said of his 6-0 mother, Diane.
Even his 6-4 father, Arthur, must look up to his son and figure out ways to beat him in a game of one on one.
“He’d always back me down, and there was nothing I could do because I wasn’t taller or stronger than him, but it made me tougher in the long run,” Stepheson said.
Not that his dad is ready to give in.
“He has a jump shot,” Stepheson said.
Stepheson, who signed with North Carolina in November, is averaging 20.4 points and 17.7 rebounds for the Wolverines, seeded No. 2 in the Southern Section Division III-A playoffs. They defeated host Pasadena Marshall, 81-73, in a quarterfinal game Tuesday night.
He’s looking forward to playing at the collegiate level but still has some unfinished business.
“My goal is to get out of here with a state title,” he said.
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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
