He is the best player you haven’t seen.
And sometimes, even when he’s on the court, you don’t see him.
That’s because Sean Stevens is all of 5-foot-7.
But believe this. The bite-sized bomber can shoot. And today at 4:30 p.m., Stevens will lead Davie County’s defending champion boys into the Sam Moir Christmas Basketball Classic semifinals against West Rowan.
Last year, everyone wanted to see Davie and West match up. It would be Scooter Sherrill against Duane Phillips.
It never happened. Scooter and the Falcons lost to North Rowan in the semis.
Today, they do meet. And you can again watch West’s best player — Donte Minter — against Davie’s best — Stevens.
That’s 6-foot-7 vs. 5-foot-7, folks.
And if Stevens is his usual self, bring an umbrella to Catawba College’s Goodman Gym. The threes are going to rain down.
“Sean can put it up,” said Davie coach Jim Young. “If he gets locked in, look out.”
Stevens was a scoring machine on the freshman and jayvee teams but no one in their right mind would think he could step in and score even more than Phillips — now playing at Spartanburg Methodist — on the varsity level.
But he has surpassed all expectations. He has hit for more than 38 three times and is averaging 28 points per game coming in.
“We’ll run our offense and set some screens for him,” said Young of his gunslinger.
Even more of a surprise than Stevens’ production is the fact that the War Eagles are 8-1.
“We lost 10 seniors and had no returning starters,” Young said. “So I’m pleased with how the kids have done.”
Young lost his gargantuan front line from last year’s title team of 6-7 Jon Orsillo, 6-7 Djordge Lukic and 6-6 hulk Larry Umberger. Only Rod Tenor, at 6-3, had any experience under the basket.
So Young changed his way of thinking and went outside.
Which means showcasing his mighty mite.
Stevens won’t impress anyone, that is, until you look in the scorebook. And you wonder, “How did he score so much?”
Young smiles.
“You’ll notice Sean doesn’t shoot it high. He doesn’t jump. It’s more of a set shot. But he has a quick release. Teams have put guys 6-2 and 6-3 on him and he still gets it off.”
Oh yeah, if you stop Stevens — and good luck with that — Young simply puts the ball into the hands of his running mate Eddie Zajmovic.
Get ready to yell, “Wham-bam-Zam.”
The 6-2 Yugoslavian transfer has scored no less than 16 and no more than 26 in Davie’s nine games. And he seems to be ready for someone to discover him as fans did with Lukic last season. Lukic, now playing Division IIbasketball in Michigan, had his coming-out party at the Moir Classic last year.
In fact, after a win over Alexander Central last week, Zajmovic approached a reporter and joked, “I need pub.” He’ll get it this week with crowds numbering in the thousands.
Davie is much more than Stevens and Zajmovic, however. The War Eagles scored over 100 points in three consecutive games earlier this season. They have flourished under the tutelage of Young, a Pennsylvania Yankee who came down because he wanted new challenges. He saw the job being offered on the internet four years ago, applied and turned around a moribund program where a 7-win season was considered a moral victory.
Young can’t wait to see how his inexperienced War Eagles adapt to Catawba’s longer floor and Catawba’s larger crowds.
“These kids haven’t played in here,” he said. “You wonder how the longer floor will affect them too.
“But the greatest thing is playing in this tournament. It’s one of our highlights.”
Young loves crowds. While racking up many of his 483 career wins in Pennsylvania, he was doing it in front of Moir-like crowds.
“We would be sold out two or three weeks ahead for a big game,” he said.“And that’s why I like this tournament. This is my fourth year and I’ve met great coaches and seen great athletes. I like the way the fans follow the teams. I’d love to play down here all the time.”
But he only get to play down here one week a year and he wants to make the most of it, starting today against Mike Gurley’s Falcons. And he wants the fans to appreciate his team — and especially Sean Stevens.
“I hope we can put on a show for them,” Young said.
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