He’s Pushing to Be Known Quantity

Ed Matillo of Buena Park has known for only a couple of weeks most of the boys on the North team he will coach in tonight’s Costa Mesa Kiwanis Orange County All-Star Basketball Game, but he’s already formed a solid opinion about Jon Stoa.

“I’m really impressed with him,” said Matillo of the 6-foot-6 swingman from Whittier Christian. “He’s really a good shooter and he has size. You don’t usually see a guy his size who can shoot the ball so well, but he may be our best outside threat at the moment.”

Indeed, Stoa, who also plays baseball, has been one of the county’s better shooters and most durable players the last four years. He started every varsity basketball game since his freshman season and he scored a school-record 2,024 points, averaging 19.1 points.

Trouble was, not too many county fans--or large-school coaches for that matter--saw him play. That’s why Stoa, who is undecided about his college plans, believes his performance in the 8 p.m. game at Orange Coast College will be a coming out party, of sorts.

“By me being in the all-star game, it should make the school get a little more notice,” he said.

Whittier Christian has only 490 students, according to the Southern Section office. The Heralds compete in the Olympic League, which is in Division IV. The Olympic League has only three other teams located in Orange County: Calvary Chapel, Brethren Christian and Orange Lutheran.

Stoa was a first-team Division IV selection his junior year, when he led the Heralds to their best record in his career. But that was a meager 16-12 and it resulted in only a tie for second place in league.

Whittier Christian had a record of 51-58 during Stoa’s four seasons and never won a league title. In his senior year, the Heralds (14-13) struggled to a fourth-place tie and Stoa was only a second-team division selection.

That didn’t mean that small-school opponents didn’t recognize Stoa as a threat. He and Coach Robert Aviles agree that the Heralds struggled this past season because Stoa was always the target of opposing defenses.

“Jon faced a lot of box and one defenses this past year,” Aviles said. “I think that frustrated him.”

Aviles believes tonight’s all-star game has the potential to be a showcase for all the good things Stoa did at Whittier Christian.

“I wouldn’t say he has been completely overlooked,” Aviles said. “I don’t think a lot of people understood how good a player he really was. He’s as good a player as a lot of them out there [in the county] are.”

Matillo certainly agrees.

“Jon’s really a sleeper in the county,” he said. “When you get a guy that big, they usually can’t shoot. Most guys like that would just be post guys. But he’s fun to watch.”

Although he was only 6-3 as a freshman, Stoa had to play center for the Heralds because the team didn’t have a true center. Throughout his career, in fact, Stoa has had to play under the basket more than he liked. But that has only made him a better, more knowledgeable player overall, he said.

“This all-star game brings together all my four years,” Stoa said. “All the things I have learned is the reason I made the team.”