(Blaine C. Woodbury File Photo) Stephen Graves (12) launches a three-pointer against LaVega's Trey Ridge (23). Graves is a scoring machine - as long as he eats his monkey bread.
By Merle Bertrand, Sportswriter
“My favorite part about playing here has got to be the system in which we play in,” stated Stephen Graves, a senior on Coach Barry Boren’s Liberty Hill Runnin’ Panthers basketball team. “I've always enjoyed being on a run-and-gun team and just being able to run up the score with high intensity.”
“Intensity” would also be a great one-word description of the attitude Graves, the son of Travis and Lorraine Graves, displays on the basketball court. Although the mischievous grin that often spreads across his face on the court belies that intensity, Graves is a scrappy, shut-down force on defense.
(Blaine C. Woodbury File Photos)
He’s also an unselfish ball distributor and a ferocious rebounder, which makes him a perfect fit for Boren’s aforementioned system.
Given that multi-faceted resume, however, opponents often overlook Graves’ ability to shoot – to their ultimate chagrin. He pumped in four straight 3-point shots, for instance, in the opening quarter of the Panthers’ final non-district tune-up vs. Lehman last week en route to a 37-point night.
Apparently he’d grabbed an extra handful of his favorite food, monkey bread, for breakfast that morning.
Born October 22 in San Marcos, Graves is the youngest boy in the family. He follows older brothers Andrew (22) and Patrick (21), who are both students at St. Thomas University. Younger sisters Andi and Tori, both 15, are currently students at Liberty Hill Middle School.
Graves’ favorite type of food is Mexican, and last season’s 2nd Team All-District honoree and Newcomer of the Year is quick to point out that, “I eat a lot more than it looks like I do!”
One of just three returning players, along with Shane LaCaille and Blake Danielak, who saw significant playing time on last season’s 30-5 club, Graves acknowledged some growing pains as this year’s team discovered its own identity.
“Throughout this year, I feel everyone on the team has improved greatly,” he related. “We have a good, well-balanced team and we have great chemistry with each other.”
(Tori Graves Photos)
When not tormenting the opposition on the basketball court, Graves enjoys sports, hanging out with friends and those universal favorites, eating and sleeping. He counts rap and hip hop as his favorite type of music and, perhaps not surprisingly, given his ferocious intensity on the hardwood, lists Eminem as his favorite artist.
Graves hopes to play college basketball somewhere when his high school days are behind him. First things first, however, as he acknowledged a desire – and a certain amount of expectation -- to get over the early-round playoff blues that have haunted the purple and gold the past couple of years.
“I have a lot of pressure on my back right now, but also have a ton of faith in our team to prevail further in the playoffs than the past few years,” he predicted.
Stephen Graves wanted people to know that he’s “easy to get along with,” and judging by his quick and ready smile off the court, that appears to be true.
Once he takes the court, however, that easy going nature disappears. What replaces it is that one word description: intensity.
