Stephon Ashley is learning to trust his ears.
Whether it’s advice from his college star brother, his ear buds or his coach’s instructions, the Neumann-Goretti High School junior point guard is ready to listen.
Ashley’s brother, Robert Wright III, is making an immediate impact as a freshman guard at Baylor University.
The two brothers played one season together at Neumann-Goretti before Wright transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida for his senior season of high school.
Ashley learned quite a bit from his brother on the court, and even more once they were separated.
“He gave me a few tips before he left,” said Ashley, who is scoring just shy of 20 points per game this season as a guard for the Saints. “And he would text me things when he was down (in Florida). He told me to stay focused and stay locked in over the whole season. Keep your head on straight. We also had Khaafiq (Myers) last year so that helped a lot, too.”
Ashely said he watches his brother on TV when he can.
“It’s crazy,” Ashley said. “I’m really proud of him for taking on that role and showing his brothers that you can get there. You just need to put in the work.”
It’s something Ashley and the other Saints are working on.
Neumann-Goretti’s start to the Catholic League season has been anything but smooth as the Saints dropped four of their first six league games and were sitting on the playoff bubble at the halfway point.
Last year, Neumann-Goretti finished 24-4.
This year, through Jan. 19, they were 7-8, leading to some frustration on the court.
“We need to keep plugging,” Coach Carl Arrigale said after a 93-81 loss at Father Judge on Jan. 8. “Right now, they’re not comprehending what we’re giving them and we’ve been very bad on the defensive end. We’re not playing great on offense, either, but we can score. We just don’t guard anybody. It’s very frustrating, but you need to keep working on it and hopefully we have a breakthrough and we start playing better.”
Since then, the Saints banked wins over PCL rivals Conwell-Egan and Bonner & Prendie, but they still have a lot of work to do.
“We just need to all get on the right page,” Ashley said. “We just need to never get too low and never get too high. We need to keep on even keel.”
Finding a rhythm is something Ashley said comes easy to him.
He records his own music and uses it as motivation before a big game.
“I make music,” Ashley said. “I do rap when I’m bored. I can freestyle pretty good. When a beat comes on, I can just say anything that comes to my mind. My friend has a studio and I’ve been going to the studio and making music. So I listen to my own music before the game. It gets me pretty pumped up.”
Has it spread throughout the locker room? Not quite yet.
“A couple of guys on the team will listen to my music, but not everybody,” Ashley said with a laugh.
Ashley said he also enjoys cooking and is pretty handy around the house with fixing things.
Arrigale is hoping all Ashley’s talents come together on the basketball court in time to make a postseason run.
“He’s an energy guy and he’s very gifted,” Arrigale said. “We’re trying our best to teach him the game. A lot of his mistakes are because he’s trying but he doesn’t understand some stuff. It’s his time now, he’s been playing since he’s been a freshman.”
Ashley has heard the answer to the Saints’ problems.
Now he’s hoping to apply it.
“I feel like we need to all stay together and listen to Coach Carl,” Ashley said. “I feel like that at the end, we’re going to make a run. We’re going to get there.” ••
