Fayetteville Christian's Tomas Stevens ended his senior season as the top scorer in Cumberland County and a McDonald's All-American nominee
Rodd Baxley
The Fayetteville Observer
Fayetteville Christian’s Tomas Stevens ended his senior season as the top scorer in Cumberland County.
Stevens, who averaged a county-best 24.6 points per game for the Warriors, also might be the most underrated prep basketball player in Fayetteville.
“If you haven’t seen him, you probably need to,” said Fayetteville Christian coach Martez Kirkland. “He would be a great recruit to bring into any type of program.”
Stevens was named a 910Preps Athlete of the Week in December and scored 20 or more points in 12 of his 20 games for the Warriors, including six games with 30 or more points and a pair of 40-point performances.
“Just this offseason, I knew I had to do a little more work, so I started working out around 6 a.m. every day and getting that first workout in,” Stevens said.
“I’d get my second workout around 9:30. … It feels good knowing how good I can be and to see the work has paid off.”
A military kid, Stevens started his basketball journey in South Carolina and Louisiana before making the move to Fayetteville early in his prep career.
Kirkland described Stevens as "a disciplined player and a great kid."
“He works hard and his family, you can tell by coaching him that he’s going to do everything that he’s asked to do, no questions asked," Kirkland continued.
"He’s just gonna grind. … I can honestly say, he’s probably only missed one or two workouts I’ve had.”
The Warriors finished with a 7-16 record in Kirkland’s debut season, which was filled with COVID-19 challenges as the program battled in the NCISAA Sandhills Conference. Only one player on the roster made an appearance in all 23 games this season.
“We had a few ups and downs,” Stevens said. “We didn’t have the team we thought we would, but the team I had, it was good. We showed up to practice and we worked hard, but COVID was hard on us.”
Stevens capped his season Feb. 12 with a season-high 42 points in a 57-54 loss to Trinity Christian.
“That was a really big one. … When I keep playing like that, I don’t know how to describe it,” Stevens said.
The 5-foot-8, 165-pound guard finished his career with more than 1,000 points, and averaged 6.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists and four steals per contest as a senior.
Stevens, who Kirkland added is an “outstanding student,” also has a 3.6 GPA.
“I believe that he’s a really good D-II player. You’re gonna get a great teammate, a great leader and he can score at all levels regardless of his size,” Kirkland said.
“. … His grades resemble his play; they go hand in hand.”
On Thursday, Stevens found out he was one of five players in the Cape Fear region to receive a McDonald’s All-American nomination. Fayetteville Christian’s Javonnie Barker and Westover’s D’Marco Dunn — a UNC signee — were listed among the more than 700 nominees.
Village Christian’s DaiJa Turner and St. Pauls guard T.J. Eichelberger earned nominations for the girls’ squad. Eichelberger is a Fayetteville State signee and Turner is set to attend TCU.
The final roster of 48 players (24 boys and 24 girls) will be released later this month, but the games will not be played this year due to COVID-19.
But Stevens is more focused on landing with a college program. Until then, he’ll “continue to work hard every day.”
“He’s a very quiet, humble young man,” Kirkland said.
“Coming into the season, I wanted him to grow as a leader and a young man. That’s the biggest thing I’ve seen with him as a basketball player. He has been a perfect model of what any coach wants in a point guard and a captain.”
Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com.
Rodd Baxley
The Fayetteville Observer
Fayetteville Christian’s Tomas Stevens ended his senior season as the top scorer in Cumberland County.
Stevens, who averaged a county-best 24.6 points per game for the Warriors, also might be the most underrated prep basketball player in Fayetteville.
“If you haven’t seen him, you probably need to,” said Fayetteville Christian coach Martez Kirkland. “He would be a great recruit to bring into any type of program.”
Stevens was named a 910Preps Athlete of the Week in December and scored 20 or more points in 12 of his 20 games for the Warriors, including six games with 30 or more points and a pair of 40-point performances.
“Just this offseason, I knew I had to do a little more work, so I started working out around 6 a.m. every day and getting that first workout in,” Stevens said.
“I’d get my second workout around 9:30. … It feels good knowing how good I can be and to see the work has paid off.”
A military kid, Stevens started his basketball journey in South Carolina and Louisiana before making the move to Fayetteville early in his prep career.
Kirkland described Stevens as "a disciplined player and a great kid."
“He works hard and his family, you can tell by coaching him that he’s going to do everything that he’s asked to do, no questions asked," Kirkland continued.
"He’s just gonna grind. … I can honestly say, he’s probably only missed one or two workouts I’ve had.”
The Warriors finished with a 7-16 record in Kirkland’s debut season, which was filled with COVID-19 challenges as the program battled in the NCISAA Sandhills Conference. Only one player on the roster made an appearance in all 23 games this season.
“We had a few ups and downs,” Stevens said. “We didn’t have the team we thought we would, but the team I had, it was good. We showed up to practice and we worked hard, but COVID was hard on us.”
Stevens capped his season Feb. 12 with a season-high 42 points in a 57-54 loss to Trinity Christian.
“That was a really big one. … When I keep playing like that, I don’t know how to describe it,” Stevens said.
The 5-foot-8, 165-pound guard finished his career with more than 1,000 points, and averaged 6.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists and four steals per contest as a senior.
Stevens, who Kirkland added is an “outstanding student,” also has a 3.6 GPA.
“I believe that he’s a really good D-II player. You’re gonna get a great teammate, a great leader and he can score at all levels regardless of his size,” Kirkland said.
“. … His grades resemble his play; they go hand in hand.”
On Thursday, Stevens found out he was one of five players in the Cape Fear region to receive a McDonald’s All-American nomination. Fayetteville Christian’s Javonnie Barker and Westover’s D’Marco Dunn — a UNC signee — were listed among the more than 700 nominees.
Village Christian’s DaiJa Turner and St. Pauls guard T.J. Eichelberger earned nominations for the girls’ squad. Eichelberger is a Fayetteville State signee and Turner is set to attend TCU.
The final roster of 48 players (24 boys and 24 girls) will be released later this month, but the games will not be played this year due to COVID-19.
But Stevens is more focused on landing with a college program. Until then, he’ll “continue to work hard every day.”
“He’s a very quiet, humble young man,” Kirkland said.
“Coming into the season, I wanted him to grow as a leader and a young man. That’s the biggest thing I’ve seen with him as a basketball player. He has been a perfect model of what any coach wants in a point guard and a captain.”
Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com.
